"My name is Rock Lee!" Rock Lee walked up to Sakura Haruno, struck his signature pose, and flashed his gleaming white teeth and a thumbs-up. "Your name is Sakura, right? Please go out with me! I swear I'll protect you until the day I die!"
That earth-shattering confession at their very first meeting instantly turned everyone around them to stone.
Caught completely off guard by this sudden, blunt confession, Sakura forgot every bit of her anxiety about the Chunin Ninja Exams. All that remained was utter speechlessness, and she looked like a disheveled stick figure buffeted by the wind.
"Absolutely not..."
Meanwhile, Neji Hyuga completely ignored the chaos his teammate had caused. He strode forward, staring intently at Naruto, his voice slightly low as he suppressed some sort of excitement.
"Hey, what's your name? Could we... talk?"
His tone sounded like a request, but his steadily advancing footsteps and uncompromising presence clearly conveyed a determination that would not easily yield even if he was refused.
"I'm Uzumaki Naruto..." A little overwhelmed by this sudden enthusiasm, Naruto instinctively took half a step back and tried to ease the tension. "Um... whatever it is, could we talk after the exams?"
"Neji Hyuga."
Neji promptly introduced himself. After finally finding a possible lead connected to Lord Menma, he couldn't care less about something like the Chunin Ninja Exams!
"I have something extremely important that I must discuss with you right now!" Neji's gaze grew even more intense. "Could you please come aside with me for a moment?"
"Wait! What are you two even doing?! Stop it already!" Watching one teammate confess his love in public while the other approached a boy from another team in a way that bordered on harassment, Tenten finally lost her composure. Neji's uncharacteristic behavior, in particular, left her