I Want to Fight You Too

"Hey, Little Lee! We don't have any extra time to waste. Training Ground 44 is quite a distance from here."

Sakura and Sasuke were both on guard against Little Lee, who had suddenly stopped Team 7.

Little Lee's companion—Neji Hyuga, with long black hair tied in a ponytail—spoke up to remind him.

"You heard what the examiner for the second test said too. We only have half an hour to assemble. If we arrive late, we'll be disqualified from the exam."

Neji's words to Little Lee were full of warning.

Clearly, Little Lee stopping Team 7 was not the opinion of all of Team 3, but his own personal decision.

"I know! I won't waste much time!"

Little Lee assured Neji.

As he spoke, his gaze returned to Sakura, and his face reddened again.

"Honestly..."

Tenten, his fellow Team 3 member, helplessly shook her head, as though she was already used to Little Lee's behavior.

After placating his companions, Little Lee approached Sakura nervously.

It was clear that, deep down, he was quite shaken about what he was about to do.

As a taijutsu specialist, even his steps had become incredibly stiff.

Sasuke remained wary of Little Lee's incomprehensible actions and stepped in front of Sakura.

"What exactly do you want?"

Sasuke questioned Little Lee.

"You're Sasuke Uchiha, the top graduate of this year's Ninja Academy, right?"

Little Lee met Sasuke's gaze and patiently explained, "Please rest assured! I mean no harm. I came to find Sakura!"

"Me?"

Now Sakura was the one who felt baffled. She searched her memories and was certain that she had never encountered Little Lee before this.

"Yes, please allow me to introduce myself!"

Little Lee suddenly raised a thumbs-up and flashed Sakura a dazzling smile.

"My name is Rock Lee! Sakura, please go out with me! I'll protect you with my life!"

"No."

Sakura immediately rejected him.

"..."

Sasuke stared blankly at the farce that had suddenly unfolded before him, confirming that Little Lee truly had no ill intent.

Sasuke silently stepped away from in front of Sakura... because he had been standing there, he had also faced Little Lee's soul-shaking smile head-on.

Naruto raised a hand and patted Sasuke on the shoulder, expressing his sympathy for Sasuke's experience.

With his other hand, he lightly waved Sakura over. "Let's go, Sakura. We don't have time to waste on nonsense."

"W-Wait for me, Naruto!"

Seeing that Sasuke and Naruto were no longer beside her, Sakura hurried around Little Lee and headed toward them.

However, just as Team 7 passed Neji and Tenten—

"Please wait a moment!"

Thinking the farce was over, Team 7 was stopped by Little Lee again.

"What do you want now?"

Sasuke frowned at Little Lee.

"Sasuke, how about we spar a little?"

"Little Lee!"

Even Neji, his teammate, spoke up to stop Little Lee's latest sudden decision.

"Don't worry, we'll stop at the right point. If we hurry, we can get from here to Training Ground 44 within fifteen minutes."

As he spoke, Little Lee looked at Sasuke. "This will benefit you too. I can see from your eyes that you desire to fight strong opponents... Sasuke, even if you lose to me now, it won't affect the exam. And you can gather information for your teammates too—isn't that right?"

"Why are you talking to me as if I'm definitely going to lose to you?"

Sasuke stared intently at Little Lee. His originally black eyes had already turned red.

A single black tomoe appeared in each eye.

"Sharingan! Sasuke!"

Sakura had not expected Sasuke to accept the challenge when time was so tight.

She wanted to stop Sasuke, but Naruto grabbed her hand and prevented her from disturbing him.

"Naruto?"

Sakura looked at Naruto in confusion.

"Sakura, Sasuke has already made up his mind."

At Naruto's explanation, Sakura's gaze froze.

She said nothing more and quietly stepped back beside Naruto, watching Sasuke, who had chosen to fight Little Lee, together with him.

Noticing Naruto and Sakura's actions, Little Lee said, "You have two wonderful companions, Sasuke."

"I know that myself. I don't need you to remind me."

Sasuke watched Little Lee's movements with his red eyes.

Naruto observed Sasuke and Little Lee from the side.

In the original story, Sasuke had awakened a One-Tomoe Sharingan in one eye during his battle with Haku in the Land of Waves.

Then, during training before the Chunin Ninja Exams, both of his eyes had evolved into Two-Tomoe Sharingan.

But now, Haku and Zabuza Momochi had already been secretly dealt with by Naruto ahead of time, causing Sasuke to miss a rare opportunity for growth.

Even Sasuke with the Two-Tomoe Sharingan in the original story could not defeat the current Little Lee.

Not to mention Sasuke now, whose Sharingan was still only One-Tomoe.

"Then I'll make the first move."

Little Lee assumed a defensive stance.

He stood upright, one hand behind his waist and the other extended straight ahead, his palm aligned with his chest.

Little Lee's movements were not fast to begin with, and the Sharingan could easily capture every detail of them.

A taijutsu opening stance?

Sasuke guessed which kind of taijutsu Little Lee would use, feeling slightly overconfident.

Ninjutsu, taijutsu, genjutsu.

Of those three types of techniques, taijutsu was the easiest for the Sharingan's Observation Eye ability to see through.

Sasuke shifted his gaze—yet in that instant, Little Lee vanished from his sight.

"What!?"

Sasuke was shocked. The Sharingan had not seen how Little Lee disappeared at all.

It was as though Little Lee truly no longer existed.

"Was that genjutsu?"

Sakura was also uncertain.

Little Lee had vanished faster than an ordinary Body Flicker Technique, so Sakura naturally assumed he had used some kind of genjutsu.

Yet the technique that had made Little Lee "disappear" still fell within the definition of the Body Flicker Technique.

The definition of the Body Flicker Technique was this: using one's own chakra to move at high speed, making it appear to others as if one had vanished into thin air.

Movement techniques, high-speed taijutsu, and space-time ninjutsu like Flying Thunder God—

—so long as they could achieve the effect of "body flickering," they could all be collectively called Body Flicker Techniques.

Little Lee's disappearance was the result of high-speed taijutsu.

It was simply that Little Lee was too fast, creating the illusion that no one knew when he had used genjutsu.

Naruto did not answer Sakura. He merely turned his gaze behind Sasuke.

The moment Naruto's gaze settled there, Little Lee appeared behind Sasuke as well.

Everything happened in a flash!

Crouching behind Sasuke, Little Lee raised one leg and kicked at him.

Leaf Whirlwind!

Unable to withstand the immense impact of Little Lee's kick called Leaf Whirlwind, Sasuke was launched into the air.

"Damn it!"

Sasuke, hanging in the air, had completely abandoned his earlier overconfidence.

He turned his head in midair to look at Little Lee, but Little Lee vanished again just as before.

The Sharingan still could not see through Little Lee's movements.

"Fire Release—"

Sasuke immediately abandoned his strategy of using the Sharingan to discern Little Lee's movements.

Little Lee's disappearance would inevitably be followed by another attack against him.

Sasuke raised his hands, preparing to form the Fire Release hand signs and rely on his instincts to attack the place where Little Lee would next appear.

Too late.

Naruto stared at Sasuke's hands as he flew through the air...

Before Sasuke's hands could touch and form the hand signs, Little Lee's attack would arrive first.

"There are less than fifteen minutes left before the second test's assembly time!"

Naruto suddenly shouted at that moment.

"What? There's so little time left?"

Surprised by how quickly time had passed, Little Lee responded to Naruto's words.

Sasuke's eyes widened. Little Lee's voice had come from behind his ear—close enough to touch.

"That's enough, Little Lee! Don't lose sight of the bigger picture and get disqualified from the exam!"

Neji also intervened in the battle.

Little Lee twisted his body in the air and landed lightly beside Neji and Tenten.

Sasuke also flipped over and returned to the ground somewhat unsteadily.

Little Lee noticed the hand sign Sasuke had formed with his joined hands.

"It seems we didn't determine a winner, Sasuke."

Little Lee glanced at Sakura for a moment before looking back at Sasuke. "I actually heard that Sakura has someone she likes... Sasuke, next time, I'll definitely defeat you and prove myself to Sakura!"

"If your eyesight is bad, get yourself some glasses. Once you can see things clearly, girls will start liking you."

Sasuke deactivated his Sharingan, and his eyes returned to their usual black.

He could not be bothered to explain the misunderstanding to Little Lee.

Sasuke glanced at Naruto.

Naruto was the same. Since the Land of Waves, Sakura's attitude toward him had changed, yet he acted like he had not noticed at all.

Sometimes, even Sasuke found himself getting anxious watching him...

"Let's go, Little Lee."

Tenten once again reminded Little Lee of how pressing the time was.

"Sorry, Neji, Tenten, for making you stay here with me."

Little Lee conveyed his apology to his companions.

The three members of Team 3 used the Body Flicker Technique and left together.

Only Team 7 remained here now.

"All right, let's not waste any more time either."

Naruto spoke to Sasuke and Sakura.

Sasuke studied Naruto. Naruto must have clearly seen the outcome of his battle with Little Lee, which was why he had shouted for them to stop.

"Just now, I lost."

After a moment of silence, Sasuke suddenly said something astonishing.

"What are you talking about, Sasuke? Didn't the fight just end without a winner?"

Sakura could hardly believe what Sasuke had said.

Sasuke merely shook his head and did not answer Sakura.

He turned his gaze toward Naruto.

"Naruto, this Chunin Ninja Exams is even more interesting than I imagined... There are a lot of powerful people... I'm looking forward to fighting them next."

Naruto looked at Sasuke, unsurprised by what he had said.

That was Sasuke Uchiha. He had never considered himself inferior to anyone.

A momentary defeat would only become motivation for him to grow stronger.

"Yeah."

Naruto answered Sasuke.

Sasuke said nothing more. After a long while, he spoke again.

"Naruto, I also... want to fight you."

"Huh?"

Naruto froze at his words.