Host: Rock Lee
Age: 14
Rank: Experienced Genin
Skills: Taijutsu A (9,441/1,000,000), Ninjutsu F (0.410/10), Genjutsu F (0.410/10), Shurikenjutsu C (4,300/10,000), Chakra Control B (27,300/100,000), Nunchaku Mastery B (13,500/100,000), Eight Gates B (8,679/100,000), Bojutsu C (5,723/10,000), Chain Mastery C (5,149/10,000), Muscle Mimicry B (0/100,000), Teaching C (987/10,000), Drunken Fist C (849/10,000), Inspire D (50/1,000)
Unique Skills: Body Supremacy Jutsu, Chakra Enhanced Strength, Strengthened Chakra Network, Regeneration Ability, Tailed Beast Chakra Reserves
Equipment: Customized Weights, Might Suit, Shinobi Tools, Small flask of special medicine, Tonfas
[Achievement Unlocked: Defend your home village during an invasion at the age of 14, protecting civilians, comrades, and the next generation of shinobi! All while accumulating the most defeated enemies! Reward obtained: Increased Chakra Reserves.]
Two days had passed since the Third Hokage's funeral.
Sunagakure announced the Kazekage's death and that Orochimaru had been the mastermind behind the entire operation. They proclaimed their surrender to Konoha, which Konoha had graciously accepted. Both villages had foremost in mind the recovery from the battle and the restoration of their nation's strength.
But Konoha's strength was at a terrifying low. And the other nations knew it.
In Sunagakure, the wind scraped against the curved sandstone walls the way it always did. The Kazekage's office was empty. The hat sat on the desk. Nobody had worn it since the body had been found in the desert three miles outside the village walls, the skin already grey, the face belonging to a man who had been dead before the invasion had even started.
Rasa. The Fourth Kazekage. Killed by Orochimaru and replaced by the snake wearing his face.
The village council had convened twice since the news broke. Both sessions had gone badly.
"Baki."
The jonin stood before the council table. Chiyo sat at the far end with her brother Ebizo beside her. Both of them were ancient. Both of them had seen more Kazekage than anyone alive. Chiyo's face was carved from the same stone the village was built on, and her eyes held the particular weariness of a woman who had outlived everyone she had ever loved or hated.
"The council has reached a decision," Ebizo said. His voice was dry, thin, the voice of a man conserving what was left. "You are to be sworn in as the Fifth Kazekage."
Baki's visible eye widened. "With respect, Lord Elder, I am a jonin. There are more qualified candidates."
"Name one," Chiyo said.
Baki couldn't think of anyone.
She was right. That was the problem. Sand's upper ranks had been gutted over the past decade. The budget cuts from the Wind Daimyo had thinned them to nothing. The invasion had thinned them further. And the candidates who might have carried the hat were either dead, retired, or too young.
"The village needs stability," Ebizo continued. "You led the genin team during the exams. You coordinated the invasion forces in the field. You are the most visible remaining authority, and visibility is what Sand needs right now. Not talent. Not politics. A face the village already trusts."
"And Temari?" Baki asked.
Chiyo's mouth twitched. It might have been a smile.
"The girl has her father's spine and her mother's mind. She'll be ready in a few years. You keep the seat warm until she is."
Baki looked at the hat on the desk.
"One more thing," he said. "The elders must know that I will be pursuing diplomacy with Konoha."
"Obviously," Chiyo said. "We just lost our Kazekage, our jinchuriki, and whatever reputation we had left. If you tried anything else, I would kill you myself."
Ebizo coughed politely.
"Speaking of the jinchuriki," Baki said carefully. "Lady Chiyo. Your reanimation jutsu. Is there any possibility of..."
"No."
The word came out flat.
"Gaara was a weapon that knew no love. Rasa was a fool who let a snake wear his skin. I will not waste the last of my chakra dragging either of them back from the dead." Chiyo's eyes were hard. "The dead stay dead. The living figure out how to survive without them. That has always been the way of Sand."
Ebizo said nothing. He had learned, decades ago, that arguing with his sister on matters of the dead was a losing proposition.
Baki reached for the hat.
It was lighter than he expected.
In the hallway outside the office, Temari and Kankuro waited. Neither of them had been invited to the council session. Neither of them had needed to be. They already knew.
Kankuro's paint was fresh but his eyes were not. He had not slept well since the invasion.
Temari stood with her arms crossed and her fan against the wall behind her. Her green eyes were steady.
The door opened. Baki stepped out wearing the hat.
Temari looked at it.
"Looks better on you than it did on him," she said.
Baki did not know whether she meant Rasa or Orochimaru. He decided not to ask.
"Both of you. Inside."
They followed him in.
"Here's what's going to happen," Baki said, setting the hat on the desk. "Sand is at its weakest point in history. We lost our Kazekage, our jinchuriki, our alliance with Sound, and whatever goodwill we had with Konoha. The Wind Daimyo will hear about this within the week if he hasn't already, and when he does, he'll cut our funding even further."
"So we're done," Kankuro said.
"No. We adapt." Baki sat. "Temari. You're being groomed for this seat. Starting today, you sit in on every council meeting, every diplomatic exchange, every budget review. You will learn how this village runs from the inside, and you will learn it fast."
Temari's expression did not change. But something behind her eyes sharpened.
"Kankuro. You're working toward the reconstruction of our puppet corps. We lost six puppet masters in the invasion. You're the best of the younger generation we have left."
Kankuro nodded with a firm look on his face.
"And both of you will carry the knowledge that your father was murdered by a man who wore his face for weeks and none of us noticed. Let that inform every decision you make going forward about who you trust."
The room was quiet.
"Any questions?" Baki asked.
"Just one," Temari said. "When do we start?"
"We already have."
In Kumogakure, the Fourth Raikage read the intelligence report for the third time.
The report was two pages. It described the invasion of Konoha in broad strokes. Sand and Sound forces. The Third Hokage dead. The village barely damaged. Casualty numbers that were still being finalized but were already significant.
The Raikage's name was A. He was a man built like a fortress, dark-skinned, blond hair combed back, with the Kage hat sitting beside his elbow rather than on his head. His arms were crossed on the desk. The muscles in his forearms were thicker than most men's thighs.
"Darui."
"Sir." Darui stood to his right. Lean, white-haired, slouching like always, his cleaver-sword strapped across his back.
"What's the current strength estimate for Konoha?"
"Down a significant amount from pre-invasion levels. Maybe more." Darui's voice had the lazy cadence of a man who was never as relaxed as he sounded. "Their Hokage is dead. Their village is rubble. And we haven't heard any news about any successors."
"Sand?"
"Worse. Lost their Kazekage, lost their jinchuriki, lost the war. They surrendered to Konoha within forty-eight hours. They're done for the foreseeable future."
C stepped forward from the left. Shorter than Darui, blond, sharper in posture and speech. "Lord Raikage. Our operatives at the Chunin Exams sent a preliminary report before the invasion started. There's something in it you should see."
"The Hyuga?"
C hesitated. "The extraction team has not reported back."
A's eyes narrowed.
"They were supposed to use the invasion as cover," C continued. "The chaos would have masked the extraction. But they've missed both check-in windows."
"Dead or captured?"
"Unknown. But given the circumstances, dead is more likely."
A's fist came down on the desk. The wood cracked from end to end. A fracture split through the middle of the intelligence report.
"Useless!" A said through his teeth.
Darui and C said nothing. The first time had nearly started a war and had cost the Hyuga clan a life. The second time had cost Cloud two operatives and whatever leverage they might have gained from the chaos.
A stood. The chair groaned under the release of his weight.
"How fast can we get reconnaissance teams to the southern border?"
"We already have patrols running the Land of Frost," Darui said. "Standard rotation. Nothing aggressive."
"Make it aggressive. Push the patrols further south. Test Konoha's response time. I want to know how thin they're stretched and where the gaps are."
"And if they respond?"
"Then we learn something about what they have left." A picked up the cracked intelligence report and dropped it in the bin. "Konoha just buried their Hokage. They're leaderless and bleeding. We'll use this opportunity to crush them even further."
"That's rather dull, sir." Darui scratched the back of his head. "Sorry. I mean, it's the right call. Just... dull."
"Your opinion on the entertainment value of our operations has been noted, Darui."
"Much appreciated, sir."
"As far as I'm concerned, one of you is more than enough to handle an A-rank mission. Especially after what we've seen during the Chunin Exams." Homura Mitokado studied them from behind his glasses.
Lee stood at attention. Tenten stood beside him, her posture straight but her hands not entirely still at her sides.
"Do you believe you're up for this mission?" Homura asked.
"Yes, sir!" Lee shouted with all his heart.
"Absolutely." Tenten nodded.
Koharu Utatane's eyes moved from Lee to Tenten and stayed on Tenten for a beat longer than was comfortable.
"To be frank, this is an A-rank assignment. Missions of this caliber are typically reserved for jonin at the very least. Rock Lee, your performance during the Chunin Exams and the invasion has earned this level of trust. Tenten..."
The pause was not kind.
"Your showing in the preliminaries was not what we would consider exceptional. You were eliminated."
Tenten's jaw tightened. She did not argue.
"However," Koharu continued, "Rock Lee has vouched for your capabilities. He insists that you are capable of operating at this level."
"She is," Lee said. "I would not say it if I did not believe it."
"We'll take your judgment seriously, Lee." Homura leaned forward. "But understand this. If this mission does not go well, and we find that Tenten's inclusion was a matter of friendship rather than ability, it will reflect on more than just her. It will impact our assessment of your judgment in the future. Chunin candidates do not simply fight well. They make sound decisions about who they bring into the field."
The weight of the words settled across the room.
Lee's smile did not falter. "I understand completely, sir. And I stand by my decision."
Tenten's hands stopped fidgeting. Her eyes hardened.
"I won't hold him back," she said. "And I won't give you a reason to doubt his call."
Koharu studied her for another moment. Then she nodded.
"While we feel that you are more than ready to be promoted to chunin, unfortunately we do not have the authority to do so," Homura said, pulling the conversation back. "Until we can usher in the Fifth Hokage, you'll still be considered genin despite your actual capabilities."
"No problem at all, sir! I can definitely wait a little bit longer!" Lee saluted.
"Rock Lee. Tenten. You are dismissed. Good luck." Koharu gave them a small smile.
"Our first A-rank mission!" Lee gushed.
"I know right! I can't believe it! If this mission goes well, imagine what else they'll consider for me! I might even get a field promotion to chunin instead of having to wait for the next Chunin Exams!"
"That'd be amazing!" Lee agreed.
"We can't screw this up! I have to pack everything! Lee! Don't forget anything either!"
"I won't!" Lee chuckled.
They split toward their homes. Lee sped across his apartment like a blur. He fed Kagerou, pet and massaged him with love which he reciprocated with a nuzzle on his cheek, gathered his ninja tools, survival kit, and left.
The village gate was ahead. Lee packed light because he didn't need much. Tenten packed light because she had storage scrolls that could carry everything and anything.
"Tenten."
"Yeah?"
"Thank you for coming with me."
"Tch!" Tenten clicked her tongue. "Like I'd miss out on an A-rank mission. You may be ahead of me now, Lee, but don't think I'm just gonna let you stay ahead of me!"
"I was just saying, I appreciate-"
"Lee. Save it. Let's go hit some people."
He grinned. She grinned back. They passed through the gate and the village fell behind them.
In Iwagakure, the Third Tsuchikage sat in his office with his back aching and the intelligence report open on his desk.
Onoki was old. He had been old for a long time now. His body had been giving him trouble for years, especially his spine. His granddaughter Kurotsuchi brought him his tea every morning and pretended not to notice when he winced getting out of his chair.
But his mind was sharp. His mind had always been sharp.
"Konoha's Hokage is dead," he said to the room.
Akatsuchi stood by the door, a large man with a round face and a gentle disposition that did not match his size. Kurotsuchi leaned against the windowsill with her arms crossed. She was young, dark-haired, with the sharp look in her eyes that ran in the family.
"Hiruzen Sarutobi killed by Orochimaru during the invasion," Onoki continued. "Sand has surrendered. The village is damaged. Konoha is selecting a new Hokage and hasn't found one yet."
"Sounds like an opportunity," Kurotsuchi said.
"It does," Onoki nodded. "We need to make sure that Konoha is indeed as weak as it seems."
Kurotsuchi raised an eyebrow. "What should we do?"
Onoki picked up his tea and took a sip.
"Konoha has produced a genin who killed a jinchuriki during these exams. A boy who cannot use ninjutsu or genjutsu. Fourteen years old." He set the cup down. "The last time Konoha produced a monster like that, his name was Might Duy who killed four of the Seven Ninja Swordsmen of the Mist. Before him, there was a boy named Minato Namikaze who killed a thousand of our shinobi in a single afternoon."
The room was quiet.
"Konoha has a way of growing its strength back faster than anyone expects. We will test. We will gather intelligence. But we can't miss the opportunity to weaken Konoha even further." He looked at Kurotsuchi.
"So we're pressuring them near Grass Country?"
"Grass and Waterfall."
"If we take unnecessary damage, we'll pull out." Onoki said.
The gist of the A-rank mission was to suppress the probing Cloud shinobi in the Land of Frost. A noticeable force had been growing within the country. Reconnaissance patrols pushing further south than they had any right to. Testing. Prodding. Seeing how far they could go before Konoha responded.
Lee and Tenten were the response.
They were to show a strong enough front to send the Cloud forces back to the Land of Lightning. How they were to show a strong enough front was left to their judgment. But there was really only one way shinobi made statements to other shinobi.
The Land of Frost greeted them with cold.
Nothing like the chill of Fire Country's winters. It was freezing cold. The trees thinned as they moved north, the broad treetops of Fire Country giving way to sparse conifers with ice on their branches. The ground went from packed dirt to frozen earth to snow. The sky flattened into a white sheet that did not show the sun.
"You're quiet," Tenten said.
"I am keeping an ear out."
"I guess we are in enemy territory, huh?" Tenten placed her hand on one of her scrolls.
"That's right, Tenten. We could be surrounded by enemies at any moment! We have to stay vigilant or else we could die."
"I guess we are on a jonin-level mission..." Tenten's breath came out in a white cloud. "I need to get my head in the game." Tenten smacked her cheeks red.
"We could potentially face squads of jonin. It is paramount we be cautious and observant." Lee nodded.
"For some strange reason, I'm not worried..." Tenten muttered. "When you're next to the guy who can kill a giant monster, it's hard to feel fear when it comes to regular ninjas."
Lee was about to lecture his teammate about that dangerous line of thinking but he didn't have to.
"Don't even say it. I was just mentioning it, okay? I know to take the freaking A-rank mission seriously, okay. I was just thinking about how much further I have to go with my training."
"I'm here with you every step of the way!" Lee beamed at her with a thumbs up.
"Don't slack yourself or I'll surpass you in no time, Lee!" Tenten grinned back.
They kept moving. The temperature dropped with the altitude.
In Kirigakure, the Fifth Mizukage sat in her office with the windows open to the sea breeze.
Mei Terumi was a tall woman with auburn hair that fell past her shoulders and a face that most men found difficult to look at without losing their train of thought. She wore the Mizukage's robes loosely. The hat was on the desk in front of her, beside a cup of tea that had gone cold.
Ao stood to her right. He was older, stern-faced, with an eyepatch over his right eye that concealed what was underneath. His remaining eye was sharp and it missed nothing.
Chojuro stood to her left. He was young, nervous, and held Hiramekarei, the twin-bladed sword of the Seven Swordsmen, on his back. His glasses sat crooked on his nose.
"So Konoha has lost its Hokage," Mei mentioned casually.
"Hiruzen Sarutobi," Ao confirmed. "Killed by Orochimaru. The Snake Sannin used the invasion as cover for an assassination. Sand was his puppet."
"And Sand has surrendered."
"Immediately. They have nothing left. Their Kazekage was already dead before the invasion started, killed and replaced by Orochimaru. Their jinchuriki was killed during the exam preliminaries."
"By a genin." Mei's fingers traced the rim of her cold tea. "A Leaf genin who cannot use ninjutsu or genjutsu."
"Yes, Lady Mizukage."
"How fascinating." Mei smiled. "Our village has spent decades being feared for producing child soldiers who killed their classmates to graduate. And Konoha produces a child soldier who kills jinchuriki by punching them."
"M-Mizukage-sama," Chojuro stammered. "Should we, um, be concerned?"
"No." Mei picked up the tea, realized it was cold, and set it back down with a frown. "We should be interested. Konoha is weak right now. We have spent the last several years trying to undo the damage the Fourth Mizukage did to this village. If the opportunity arises, we can take advantage of Konoha's weakness. If not, forget it, others certainly will."
Ao nodded. It was the smart play.
"Also," Mei added, heading for the door, "find out everything you can about this Rock Lee. A boy who kills jinchuriki with his bare hands is someone I should've known about before. I would've liked to deal with this threat in the bud, but it's already a danger capable of threatening us."
"No one knew about him before the invasion. A prodigy of the Eight Inner Gates…"
She paused at the door.
"And Ao?"
"Yes?"
"Bring me hot tea. This cup is cold and it's ruining my mood."
"Of course, Lady Mizukage."
"Ambush ahead." Lee's voice was low. His ears had been working overtime since they entered the frozen treeline, the enhanced hearing he had built through the Body Supremacy Jutsu picked up things that normal ears could not. "Six heartbeats. Spread formation. Three on each side of the path in the trees."
Tenten's hand went to the first scroll on her belt.
"How far?"
"Forty meters. Maybe fifty. They're trying to stay still but their breathing gives them away. Cloud shinobi."
"Split?"
"I take the left. You take the right."
"Works for me."
They did not slow down. They kept moving at the same speed as if they had not noticed anything. Forty meters became thirty. Twenty. Ten.
They hit the ambush point.
Multiple arcing branches of lightning streaked toward them from both sides.
Lee grabbed Tenten by the waist and launched them both skyward. The lightning converged on the space they had been occupying and carved the snow into a blackened crater. Lee released Tenten at the apex of the jump. She was already unrolling her scroll in midair.
"Rising Twin Dragons!"
The scroll split into two spiraling arcs above her, each one bleeding weapons from the scroll. Kunai. Shuriken. Senbon. Swords. Weapons of all kinds. They were thrown out by Tenten in a spreading storm of metal that caught the grey light of the overcast sky and turned it into a rain of silver.
Tenten's hands plucked the weapons out rapidly.
The three Cloud shinobi on the right side of the path had been in the trees. They were no longer in the trees. The first one caught a kunai through the shoulder and a senbon through the wrist as he dropped from his branch, his lightning technique fizzling in his ruined hand. He hit the snow and Tenten was already landing beside him, a kusarigama in her grip that she had pulled from the scroll's tail end. The weighted chain caught him across the throat. She yanked. He spun. The sickle end came around and buried itself in his chest before he finished the rotation.
The second Cloud shinobi was faster. He had dodged the initial rain and was closing distance with a crackling short sword, lightning running along the blade in a bright line. He came at Tenten from the left.
Tenten released the kusarigama and drew a staff from the scroll with her off hand in the same motion. A bo staff. Six feet of reinforced steel that she snapped into a guard position and used to deflect the lightning blade at an angle that sent sparks spraying across the snow. The Cloud shinobi pressed. Three slashes. Four. Fast. The lightning on his blade cut into the staff on every contact and Tenten felt the voltage running through the metal into her palms.
She let go of the staff.
The Cloud shinobi overextended into the space where the staff had been. Tenten was already inside his guard, a tanto in each hand, drawn from sheaths at the small of her back. The first blade went between his ribs from the left side. The second went through his throat from the right.
She pulled both free and turned.
The third Cloud shinobi had not attacked. He was retreating. He had seen two of his squadmates die in under ten seconds and his survival instinct had done the math before his pride could overrule it.
Tenten threw the tanto.
It covered the distance between them in a flat spin that the retreating shinobi heard but did not dodge in time. The blade entered the back of his neck at the base of the skull. He pitched forward into the snow and did not move.
Tenten stood in the snow with her chest moving in steady breaths. Blood on her hands. Blood on the tanto she still held. Blood on the kusarigama in the snow beside her. Utilizing wires, she pulled back all of her weapons back into her scrolls. Those weapons weren't cheap.
Three Cloud shinobi. Her side of the path. Done.
Lee's tonfas buried themselves into the gut of the first Cloud shinobi. The man's mouth opened and blood came out. The impact sent him sliding across the snow on his back, the force was enough to kill him on impact.
His comrade dropped from the nearest tree with a sword already in a downward slash aimed at splitting Lee from shoulder to hip. Lee caught the blade with one of his tonfas and countered immediately, swinging the free one toward the man's sword to shatter it.
The Cloud ninja leaped back. He avoided the shattering. He did not avoid what came next.
"DYNAMIC ENTRY!"
Lee's flying kick met the blade the Cloud shinobi raised in a last attempt at defense. The sword broke. The shards went into his face first, and then Lee's foot followed them in, driving the fragments deeper than they were going to go on their own.
The man hit the ground screaming before fatal damage to the brain silenced him.
A third shinobi came from behind. Lee heard the blade before he felt the air it displaced. His back foot lifted without turning, crashing into the woman's stomach and folding her in half over his heel. She left the ground. Lee turned with a spinning kick that caught her across the face. Her neck twisted horrifically.
She dropped into the snow.
Lee lowered his leg. He looked at the three of them for a moment with a frown on his face before he shook his head and put the tonfas back on his waist.
Tenten was already walking toward him when Lee turned around. Blood on her outfit that was not hers.
"All done on my side." She said.
"We're finished here." Lee confirmed.
Six Cloud shinobi. An ambush team. It had taken them less than a minute.
"I'm still getting used to it." Lee shared.
"Really?" Tenten looked at the bodies in the snow on her side of the path. "After your rampage during the Chunin Exams?"
"It's strange, I know."
"You should've seen me during the invasion! After you whittled their numbers down, I even killed a few. Your girlfriend even helped me out with one. Punching a guy so hard he became an art piece on the wall."
"She's not my girlfriend…" Lee corrected. Yet.
"And then you should've seen me when I went after that fan girl! She wasn't able to put me down so easily this time. If it wasn't for that bald jonin jerk, I would've had her! I was so angry!" Tenten continued before focusing back on the mission. "The Hidden Frost Village is northeast of here." Tenten said after a while, consulting the map from her pack. "Half a day at our pace."
"Do we have any comrades there?"
"No. The mission briefing said nothing about cooperation with Hidden Frost. We're operating independently."
"So we just show up?"
"We observe first. Shimogakure is a small village with a small force. They are not our enemy, but they are not our ally either. We trust no one here and focus only on eliminating Cloud shinobi."
Lee nodded. The snow deepened as they moved northeast, the temperature dropping with the altitude.
"Lee."
"Yeah?"
"Those two old fogeys back in Konoha. Homura and Koharu." Tenten's voice was lighter now. "You think they expected us to handle that in under a minute?"
"I think they expected me to handle it."
"Yeah, those old timers think I'm weak or something!" A small smile. "Just because I'm not a freak like you or Neji doesn't mean I'm weak!"
"I know. That is why I vouched for you."
The smile widened. Just a fraction.
They kept moving north.
[Tonfa Mastery Skill Gained!]
[Taijutsu Proficiency +300 points!]