Shira made up his mind to wait at the main gate of the school. He figured he'd run into her on her way to and from school, right? The Konoha Ninja Academy couldn't possibly keep students from leaving the school grounds.
As a result, from the first light of dawn until the sun was high in the sky, children dressed in all sorts of clothes and carrying schoolbags poured into the school gate like a tide. He stared wide-eyed, searching among countless innocent or lively faces, but he couldn't find the figure with short black hair and wearing an ordinary white practice uniform.
Even if you search based on these characteristics, there are too many people, and many of them are dressed similarly. You can easily miss them if you're not paying attention, and you simply can't match them up.
"I can't just stand there like a genius," Shira muttered to himself. The morning classes were about to begin, and the school gate had quieted down again, with only the rustling of leaves in the wind. He looked at the clean, flat ground beneath his feet and stretched his shoulders.
Waiting is fine, but time shouldn't be wasted.
He walked to a patch of open ground next to the gate where he wouldn't be blocking the way, and naturally bent down, placing his hands on the ground shoulder-width apart. Without thinking, his body moved on its own. Once, twice, three times...
Standard push-ups, steady rhythm, deep breathing. After two hundred, her breathing was still quite even. Shira changed her position again, her hands wider than shoulder-width apart—wide-grip push-ups, which put more strain on the chest and back. Another two hundred.
Sweat began to seep from his forehead and temples, glistening in the morning sunlight. His muscles began to heat up and swell; that familiar feeling of control and growing strength gained through physical training slowly dispelled the anxiety of waiting.
Shira even felt that in a place like Konoha, with its humid air and warm sunshine, doing this kind of basic training seemed more comfortable than in Sunagakure, where one had to endure the wind, sand, and scorching sun. There was a strange, peaceful sense of immersion in it.
An elderly man, who was out for a stroll early in the morning, stopped and looked at him for a while. He smiled and said, "Young man, you're quite skilled. Are you a freshman at the Ninja Academy? You're working so hard."
Shira didn't stop moving, but turned her head to catch her breath and replied, "No, sir, I'm just waiting for someone." Her voice was a little muffled.
"Oh, waiting for someone." The old man nodded, glanced at his almost overly precise movements, especially his rock-solid core and even breathing rhythm, a knowing look flashed in his eyes, and without asking any more questions, he swayed Earth Flow.
She successfully completed 600 push-ups, varying the grip width and even trying several sets of inverted push-ups without a wall. Shira rolled over, stood up, wiped away her sweat, and felt her body was fully warmed up.
He didn't stop, and started squatting. He made sure each squat was until his thighs were parallel to the ground, or even lower, and that he engaged his glutes and core when he stood up. If his form wasn't right, he would mentally count to zero and start over.
By the time she reached the 500th rep, the front of her thighs felt like they were on fire, and her muscles screamed with every time she stood up. Shira gritted her teeth, the veins on her forehead bulging slightly, and stubbornly added another 100 reps.
Reaching the last few dozen was entirely a matter of willpower. His movements inevitably slowed down, but he kept a close eye on the standard and refused to compromise.
Several Konoha students, who appeared to be upperclassmen, passed by and saw him squatting down by the school gate, sweating profusely, his clothes soaked and clinging to his body. They all cast curious glances at him.
Someone whispered, "Hey, who's that? Not from our school, right? They're training really hard..." "I don't know, they look a little scary..."
Shira pretended not to hear. Sweat stung his eyes, and he closed them briefly, wiping them away haphazardly with his sleeve. After completing six hundred squats, his legs buckled, and he almost lost his balance. He quickly grabbed a tree trunk for support, panting heavily. His legs felt like they were filled with lead, or like boiled noodles—soft, limp, and trembling with a burning heat.
"Why do I feel so weak today? Was the shock really that strong?" Shira muttered to herself as she began stretching her leg muscles after resting for more than ten minutes.
After resting for a while and waiting for his breathing to calm down a bit, Shira lay down again. This time, he extended the index and middle fingers of his right hand, brought them together, and touched the ground with the fingertips, while his left hand was behind his back.
Two-finger push-ups. This is a great test of body control and finger strength.
He steadily, once, twice... twenty times. His fingertips bore the weight of his entire body, sinking slightly into the ground, his forearm muscles taut like steel wires. Students nearby watched in stunned silence; this wasn't something that could be done with brute force alone.
And so, in that small open space by the school gate, he began to challenge himself. Push-ups, squats, frog jumps, planks... he varied the exercises, pushing himself to the limit.
Sweat soaked and dried, leaving dark stains on the ground. When hungry, he would nibble on a couple of bites of the slightly hardened jerky he carried with him; when thirsty, he would pick up the cup placed beside him.
Time slips away quietly amidst repeated ups and downs and the accumulation of aches and pains.
The sun climbed high in the east and then lazily began to set in the west. Finally, the school bell rang. The children, like birds released from their cages, shouted and played as they poured out of the gate.
The Caged Bird Seal has finally broken free!
Shira immediately stopped what she was doing, abruptly stood up, ignoring her sore legs, and scanned the crowd with urgent eyes. White training clothes, short black hair, thick eyebrows, resolute eyes...
He looked at them one by one, his heart pounding with anticipation.
The crowd gradually thinned out. The last few students, dawdling along, left arm in arm. The school gate became empty again. The setting sun cast long shadows.
Still no.
Huh? What's going on?
Shira stood there, the sweat on her body chilled by the evening breeze. The fire in her heart seemed to have been extinguished by the long wait and the repeated fruitless searches, leaving only a few damp ashes, emitting a stifling wisp of smoke.
Not a buddy? It's been all day, from morning till night. He hasn't even seen a shadow of Rock Lee.
As Shira stood there lost in thought, wondering whether she should go into the school to find Rock Lee, several girls walked out of the school gate, chatting and laughing. They seemed to have just finished their after-school group activities, and they were still carrying ninja tool bags in their hands.
One of the girls, with short hair, said to her companion in a tone that was both complaining and admiring, "... That Rock Lee is really frighteningly serious. The club activity ended a long time ago, but I just passed by the back playground and saw him still running there, lap after lap, and he wouldn't stop even when I called him."
plum?!
Shira's ears perked up suddenly, and her previously unfocused gaze instantly sharpened, locking onto the girls like a searchlight.
He barely thought about it; his body moved faster than his mind, and he darted forward, blocking their path.
"Excuse me!" His voice sounded abrupt and even a little hoarse because of his urgency. He hadn't spoken much all day, and the fatigue from the intense training had made his voice hoarse.
"The 'Li' you just mentioned, is it Lee Rock Lee? The one with short black hair, wearing a white training uniform, thick eyebrows, and who trains really hard?"
Shira's sudden block of the road and her urgent questions startled the girls, and their laughter came to an abrupt halt.
They looked up at the unfamiliar boy blocking their way.
The boy in front of them was a bit taller than them. He looked very muscular, wearing a wrinkled training uniform that was soaked with sweat and then dried. His hair was messy, and his face was flushed and sweaty from exercise.
But that's not the point!
The key point is that when Shira approached, and her eyes, which appeared exceptionally deep and focused due to her urgency and exhaustion, looked at them, the girls almost simultaneously felt a subtle yet unmistakable chill creep up their spines.
That wasn't murderous intent, but it was definitely not the aura of an ordinary teenager!
It's something that unintentionally lingers in the eyes and aura of someone who has experienced real danger, seen blood, and even... ended their life!
Like the sensation of metal against the skin in winter, it's not intense, but it instantly triggers a biological instinct to be alert!
Their smiles froze, their eyes filled with surprise and a barely perceptible fear. They exchanged a quick glance, neither daring to answer Shira's question. The short-haired girl even instinctively took a half-step back, clutching her ninja tool pouch tightly.
The air seemed to fall silent for a few seconds.
Then, almost simultaneously, the girls nodded vigorously, quickly, and even somewhat frantically, in the direction Shira was pointing—probably towards the playground behind the school. Like startled deer, they suddenly darted past Shira, running without looking back, quickly turning into a sprint, and disappeared around the corner of the next street.
Shira's outstretched hand remained frozen in mid-air. The eagerness and anticipation on her face had not yet faded before it was completely replaced by a huge sense of bewilderment and confusion.
He stared blankly at the girls' retreating figures as they ran off, then looked down at himself—aside from being a little dirty and tired, nothing seemed wrong with him, right?
"Why are you running?" Shira scratched her sweat-soaked, matted hair, looking completely bewildered. "When did I become so scary?"