On the Pure Land battlefield, in a relatively safe area some distance from the epicenter of Night Guy.
Rock Lee, the boy who shared Might Guy's thick eyebrows and burning youthful passion, who regarded Guy as both his mentor in life and a father figure, stood frozen like a stone statue.
His fists were clenched tight, and tears already covered his face. Hot tears mixed with dust, carving tracks down his young cheeks.
Those eyes, always blazing with fighting spirit, were now filled with endless grief, reverence, and... a deep sense of helplessness.
He watched helplessly as those two figures burning like suns, Teacher Might Guy and Senior Might Duy, unleashed their earth-shaking strike, then saw the flames of their lives slowly fade like candles burning out.
After the crimson steam dispersed, their bodies gradually turned transparent, dissolving into countless warm, bright motes of light. Like fireflies on a summer night, or a river of stars flowing upstream, they slowly rose and finally merged into the sky of the Pure Land, as though becoming starlight that would never fade from this battlefield.
Although he knew the two seniors had returned to Konoha, the sight was simply too moving to hold back his tears.
"Teacher Guy... Senior Duy..."
Rock Lee's voice choked, his sobs nearly robbing him of speech. "At such... such a youthful, passionate moment... I couldn't... be there with you..."
He hated himself!
He hated that he still wasn't strong enough!
Why could he only watch from afar? Why couldn't he open the Gate of Death like Teacher Guy, fight at his teacher's side, and burn and bloom alongside him?
Once again, he felt utterly powerless when it mattered most.
A large hand gently rested on Rock Lee's trembling shoulder.
It was Genma Shiranui.
The senior Jonin, who always