Sakura was late.
Not by much. Five minutes, maybe seven. But Lee had been here since before the sun cleared the trees, currently withstanding the strain of the Gate of Pain as training.
The training ground was a smaller one on Konoha's eastern side, away from the main areas where most ninjas populated. Lee had picked it specifically because it was quiet and because Sakura didn't need an audience while she was learning. She was self-conscious enough around him already. Adding spectators would only make it worse.
He heard her footsteps before he saw her. Quick, slightly uneven, the rhythm of someone who'd been walking fast and then started jogging when they realized how late they were. She came around the tree line with her cheeks flushed and her hair tied back and an expression on her face that Lee had learned to recognize over the past two weeks.
She was upset.
She dropped her bag at the edge of the field and started stretching without saying good morning.
Lee gave her a minute. Then two. By the third minute of silence, he walked over.
"Sakura-chan?"
"I'm fine." Clipped. Automatic.
Lee sat down on the grass next to where she was stretching. He didn't push. He just sat there, present and patient. After a while, her stretching slowed and the tightness in her shoulders loosened by a fraction.
"I went to the hospital this morning." Her voice was quieter now. "To see Sasuke-kun."
Lee waited.
"He's gone. Checked out. Nobody knows when. And Kakashi-sensei apparently took him somewhere to train, but nobody told me where." She pulled her knee to her chest. "And Naruto's been gone for days too. Didn't even say goodbye."
She stared at the grass between her feet.
"They all just left. All three of them. Didn't ask if I wanted to come. Didn't ask if I needed help training. Didn't even tell me they were going." A pause. "Am I really that easy to forget?"
The question was not directed at Lee. It was directed at the ground and the sky and the part of herself that had been asking it for months.
"You are not easy to forget, Sakura-chan."
She looked at him. He was sitting with his legs crossed and his hands on his knees and his face turned toward her with an expression that held nothing but sincerity.
"You're here every day." She said it like she was noticing it for the first time, even though it was the fourteenth time. "You're not even on my team. You have your own training to do. Your fight against Sasuke is in two weeks. And you're here wasting time teaching me."
"I'm not wasting my time."
"Why do you say that? Why do you think that?"
Lee tilted his head in confusion. "Because you asked me to help you get stronger. And I said yes. What kind of man would I be if I went back on my word?"
Sakura looked away. Something in her chest felt strange in a way she didn't want to examine too closely.
"Come on." She stood and brushed the grass off her legs. "Let's train. I'm not going to let those jerks leave me behind."
Lee was on his feet before she finished the sentence.
"Come at me with the intent to kill, Sakura-chan." Lee dropped out of the Eight Gates. It was a little too much for where Sakura was at now.
[Eight Gates Proficiency +1,111 points!]
Sakura rushed forward and threw a right cross at Lee's jaw. It was faster than it would have been two weeks ago. Straighter. Her weight transferred from her back foot through her hip and into the fist the way Lee had drilled into her, and the punch arrived with enough force that it would have easily ko'd a large bandit.
Lee leaned his head two inches to the left. The fist sailed past his ear.
"Good. Faster. Again."
She reset and came again. Left jab to set up the cross. The jab was a feint, meant to draw his guard high, and the cross came in low toward his ribs. This was good, she was thinking now, not just swinging.
Lee caught the cross on his palm.
Sakura gritted her teeth and went again.
This time she opened with a clone. Three Sakuras rushed him from different angles, their movements synchronized well enough that a genin without Lee's senses might have hesitated for half a second. Lee didn't hesitate. His eyes picked out the real Sakura from the clones instantly. The real Sakura's sandals pressed into the dirt. The real Sakura's heart beat loudly in his ears. The real Sakura's breathing could be heard. The clones' didn't have any of that.
He stepped through the nearest clone, letting it phase through him, and punched Sakura in the gut. She slid backwards holding her gut.
"The clones are improving," he said. "You're mirroring their movements better with yours. But you need to attack at the same time as them, not after. If you wait to see if they fooled me, you've already lost your chance."
"I know, I know." Sakura panted, hands on her knees. "It's hard to coordinate and attack at the same time."
"That's why we're practicing." Lee smiled. "Let's go again."
She went again. And again. And again.
The next attempt used a substitution. Sakura charged in for a straight punch, and the instant Lee moved to intercept, she swapped with a log she'd positioned behind him before the session started.
Lee spun and caught her follow-up kick before it reached his back. "Excellent thinking. You set that up before we even started. That's real shinobi tactics."
Sakura tried not to look pleased and failed entirely. When was the last time Kakashi-sensei, Naruto, Sasuke ever complimented her ninja skills?
They continued for another hour. Sakura's technique was rough, her stamina limited, and her strength nowhere near what a fight against a real opponent would demand. But the foundations were building. Two weeks ago she'd thrown punches that wouldn't even turn his head. Now her hips turned. Her feet planted. Her core engaged. The punches landed with her whole body behind them instead of just her shoulder.
She was a long way from dangerous. But she was no longer helpless in his opinion.
Lee called for a water break and they sat in the shade of a tree at the field's edge. Sakura drank deeply. Her arms were trembling from fatigue, the muscles not yet conditioned for this kind of sustained physical work.
[Taijutsu Proficiency +10 points!]
[Teaching Proficiency +564 points!]
"Lee." She wiped her mouth with the back of her hand. "Can I ask you something?"
"Of course."
"Why do boys always push themselves too far?" She was looking at the sky, her expression distant. "Sasuke nearly died against that Orochimaru and the first thing he did when he woke up was fight harder. Naruto throws himself into every battle like he's invincible. And you..." She glanced at him. "You used that dangerous jutsu against Gaara. You could have died. Your body was falling apart and you just kept going."
Lee considered the question.
"A man is nothing if he cannot stand on what he believes," he said. "A man who cannot stand on what he believes is not a man at all."
Sakura frowned. "That doesn't answer my question."
"It does, actually." Lee leaned back against the tree. "My ninja way is to prove that hard work can overcome natural genius. That you can become a splendid ninja with taijutsu alone, even if you are born without any talent for ninjutsu or genjutsu. That is what drives everything I do. Every training session. Every fight where I am outmatched on paper. Every morning I wake up before dawn."
He looked at his hands. The same scarred, calloused hands he'd shown her at the restaurant.
"Against Gaara, if I had stopped, if I had decided my body was more important than what I was fighting for, then everything I believed would have been a lie. Every promise I ever made would have been empty words. I would have proven Neji right. That effort means nothing. That fate decides everything." He closed his fists. "I would rather die than prove that line of thinking right."
Sakura was quiet for a moment.
"I think you're talking about yourself, but you know I was also asking about Sasuke."
Lee smiled. "I know. And I cannot speak for Sasuke-kun. But I believe the answer is the same for any man who pushes himself that far. There is something he believes in so strongly that his own safety becomes secondary to it." He paused. "A man who cannot put his life on the line for what he stands for is not a man who can protect anything."
"That's..." Sakura shook her head. "That's so reckless."
"Maybe." Lee looked at her. "But think about it this way. A father would put his life on the line for his wife and children without hesitation. Not because he wants to die. Because some things matter more than being safe."
Sakura considered this.
"Like how I put my life on the line to protect you in the Forest of Death," Lee added. His voice was casual but his eyes were not. "I didn't know anything about those Sound nin. I had no idea what they were capable of. But did that stop me from standing in front of them to protect you?"
Sakura's breath caught. The memory surfaced before she could stop it. Lee dropping from the branches above. The Sound nin scattering. His back, broad and steady, between her and the people trying to kill her.
"No..." she said quietly. "I guess it didn't."
Something about the memory rearranged itself in her mind. She'd replayed that moment many times over the past month, but always from the angle of her own helplessness. How she couldn't fight. How she needed saving. How weak she was.
She'd never looked at it from Lee's side. He saw danger. He didn't hesitate. He put himself between her and death with a smile on his face. Not because she asked. Not because he had to.
Because that's who he is.
Lee was kind of handsome in that moment, wasn't he?
Wait.
Handsome?
Lee?!
Sakura's face went hot. She grabbed her water bottle and drank from it even though it was full, buying herself three seconds of cover behind the plastic. She'd been spending too much time around this boy. Way too much time. His weird enthusiasm was starting to infect her brain.
She crushed the gulped down empty bottle and stood up.
"Enough talking!" Her voice came out louder than intended. "Let's get back to training! I won't let Sasuke and Naruto leave me behind. I'll catch up to those boys and show them what happens when you forget about a kunoichi!" She cracked her knuckles.
Lee grinned and jumped to his feet. "That is the spirit of youth, Sakura-chan!"
"Stop calling it that!"
"Never!"
[Inspire has reached the next level!]
…
"Sakura-chan. I want to show you something."
She wiped sweat from her forehead and walked over. "What is it?"
Lee walked over to a thick tree and placed his finger an inch away from it.
"Watch my index finger. Not the tree. My finger."
Sakura's eyes narrowed. She focused on his finger, her green eyes concentrating.
Lee gathered chakra into his finger. Not a lot. A small, dense concentration, pulled tight and held in place through the kind of control that had taken him years to develop. He could feel it sitting there, compressed, vibrating faintly against the walls of its own containment. Then he pressed forward and released the chakra at the exact instant his finger touched the bark.
The tree didn't just crack or get punctured. It was completely uprooted and sent flying into the distance. The force of wind caused Sakura's hair to raise upward. He did that with a single finger without even looking like he was trying.
Sakura stared at the place where the tree used to be rooted.
"That wasn't just muscle strength," she said slowly. "You did something with your chakra."
"Correct." Lee opened his hand. His palm was unmarked. "I stored a dense concentration of chakra in my hand and released it at the exact moment of contact. The timing has to be perfect. Too early and the chakra disperses before impact. Too late and the force is already spent. But if you hit that window..." He gestured at the uprooted tree. "A small amount of concentrated chakra produces a large amount of damage."
Sakura's mind was already working. "That's not normal chakra enhancement. Normal enhancement just reinforces the body. This is..." She paused, searching for the right framework. "This is something else..."
"Right. It's not simply chakra enhancement. It's pure chakra control. In principle, anyone can really do this. But 99% of people don't really have the chakra control and concentration necessary to perform this technique." Lee nodded.
"And you think I can learn this?"
"I think you might be better suited for it than anyone I have ever met. Your chakra control is extraordinary. You just need to know how to do it." Lee walked her over to another tree. A thick one, trunk about as wide as her shoulders. "Punch it."
Sakura looked at the tree. Then at Lee.
"Just punch it?"
"Not yet. First, gather your chakra into your fist. Pull it tight. Concentrate it into the smallest, densest point you can manage, right at the knuckles. Hold it there. Feel it pressing against the inside of your skin like it wants to get out. And then, the instant your fist touches the bark, release everything at once."
Sakura faced the tree. She planted her feet the way Lee had taught her in the morning session. She drew her fist back. Her eyes closed.
He could see her building chakra, pulling inward, condensing in her fist. The concentration was impressive.
She punched.
Her fist hit the bark and the tree cracked. A fracture split up the trunk from the point of impact, running two feet before it stopped. Chips of bark sprayed outward. The tree groaned but held its ground.
Sakura stared at the crack. Then at her fist. Then at Lee.
"I... I did it?"
"You cracked it on your first try." Lee's voice carried genuine awe. "Your control is incredible."
"But it didn't go flying like yours did." She frowned at the fracture line. "The timing was off. I released too early."
"Timing comes with practice. The fact that you condensed the chakra correctly on your first attempt is what matters. Most people cannot even feel the difference between stored chakra and flowing chakra, let alone hold one while releasing the other."
Sakura looked at her knuckles. They were red but unbroken. Something was lighting up behind her eyes.
"Show me again," she said.
Lee walked to the next tree. "Watch the timing. The release happens at the instant of maximum contact. Not before. Not after. The instant."
He demonstrated with his palm. The tree snapped at the base and toppled sideways, crashing through the brush. Sakura watched his hand with the focus of someone memorizing a jutsu.
She walked to another tree. Planted her feet. Closed her eyes. Concentrated.
Punched.
The crack was deeper this time. The fracture ran higher. The tree swayed.
"CHA! I CAN DO THIS!" she said before Lee could comment.
Four trees later, she was producing consistent damage. The timing was still early, the release not quite synchronized with the impact, but the chakra concentration was getting denser with each attempt. Her knuckles were starting to swell, the skin raw, the bones underneath aching from repeated contact with wood that did not want to give.
"That is enough for today," Lee said gently. "If you push your hands too hard before they're conditioned properly, you'll hurt yourself. We can practice more tomorrow."
Sakura looked at her hands. They were red and swollen. She flexed them, wincing at the stiffness.
"If I can learn this..." she muttered quietly.
"Sakura-chan, with your chakra control as the foundation, this technique could make you one of the strongest taijutsu shinobi in Konoha. I am certain of it."
She looked at him. He wasn't trying to flatter her. He wasn't just being nice. He was stating what he believed to be true.
"Thanks, Lee." She said it simply, without the stutter, without looking away. Just two words delivered straight.
"Any time, Sakura-chan." Lee smiled as he looked into her eyes.
[Chakra Control Proficiency +5 points!]
[Teaching Proficiency +1329 points!]
They walked back toward the village together as the sun started its descent. The streets were busier now, civilians and off-duty shinobi filling the evening with the comfortable noise of a village at peace. Or at least a village that believed it was at peace.
Sakura's hands were still red. She kept flexing them, opening and closing her fingers, feeling the new soreness in muscles she hadn't known she had. There was something satisfying about it. Pain earned through training. Pain that meant she was getting closer to Sasuke and Naruto.
"Same time tomorrow?" Lee asked as they reached the street where their paths diverged.
"Same time tomorrow." She nodded. Then, after a pause: "Lee?"
"Yes?"
"Thank you. For not leaving me too."
The words were small and quiet and cost her something to say. Lee understood their weight perfectly.
"I will always be here, Sakura-chan. You can count on that."
She nodded once, quickly, and turned toward home. Her steps were faster than usual. Her hands were still flexing at her sides.
Lee watched her go and fist pumped once she was away.
Yes! Yes! Yes!
He turned the opposite direction and broke into a run. He still had evening training to do. Two thousand push-ups, one thousand pull-ups, and five hundred laps around the village. The finals were in two weeks and Sasuke Uchiha and other opponents were waiting.
But first, he smiled all the way to the training ground. Because today had been a good day.
Three rooftops away and two stories up, Ino Yamanaka lowered the pair of binoculars she'd borrowed from her father's equipment shelf.
Her grin could have powered the village for a week.
"Same time tomorrow," she repeated to herself, her voice a singsong whisper. She'd been tracking their training sessions for three days now, always from a distance. What she'd seen over those three days had been better than anything she could have planned.
Sakura, her rival, her best friend, the girl who had spent years crushing over her Sasuke-kun, was smiling at Rock Lee. Laughing at his jokes. Training with him every day. Walking home with him in the evening with pink cheeks and red hands.
Ino hugged the binoculars to her chest.
"Keep going, Sakura. Fall for the bushy eyebrowed weirdo." She giggled. "Sasuke-kun is going to be all mine."
She hopped off the rooftop and disappeared into the evening, already planning what to wear when she made her move.