"Five hundred and one, five hundred and two, five hundred and three... Ah! I lost count! That's not my style—Teacher Guy will definitely get angry. I need to start counting again... Huh, you are?!"
No one knew how much time had passed when Rock Lee, supporting himself on his hands in a seated L-sit, burst out of the woods. The next second, a sudden pebble struck his arm, making it go weak and causing him to fall to the ground. Focused on his training, Lee had thought he had simply slipped and sat down by accident. Just as he was about to recount today's training volume, he spotted Naruto sitting in a lounge chair.
Like his teacher, Lee paid no attention to anything beyond training his body. He did not know who Naruto was, nor had he heard the things Naruto had said on the street that day. However, Naruto had trained hard with him before, and his unwavering determination to follow through on his words had earned Lee's admiration. He considered Naruto a kindred spirit.
"You... thick eyebrows! What are you doing?! Don't come over!"
Although he was heartbroken, Naruto still turned frightened the instant he saw Lee. The previous training session was still fresh in his mind. It seemed to have been in the same place, by this very lake, where he had endured torture straight out of hell. That thick-browed disciple was here, which meant...
"Hey! Since we've met again, youth, it means we are fated! In that case, let us continue our training contest from last time, when we failed to determine a winner! This time, we'll run two thousand laps around the lake!"
Naruto looked around and, seeing no sign of Guy, had just breathed a sigh of relief when Lee appeared before him and