"Hiss--! Shira, be gentle, be gentle!"
At the edge of the training field, Rock Lee grimaced and gasped for breath, his entire left arm stiffening unnaturally.
Shira was squatting next to him, holding a relatively clean bandage that she had taken out of her ninja tool bag. She carefully wrapped it around a swollen area above his elbow joint where a large patch of oily skin had been scraped off.
The wound wasn't deep, but it covered a large area. Sand mixed with blood was smeared on the broken skin, and it looked painful. Next to it was half a pot of water and a damp cloth, which were used for a quick rinse earlier.
"You little brat, now you know what pain is?" Shira's hands didn't stop, her voice was steady, but if you listened carefully, you could hear a hint of annoyance. "When you used that 'Ground -Ground-Hugging Scorpion Tail ' move just now, didn't you think about how hard you would fall if you couldn't stop?"
He was referring to Rock Lee's final, almost desperate, groin kick. Although Shira neutralized it and even took him down, Rock Lee himself lost his balance due to excessive force, and his elbow slammed hard into the ground when he landed, scraping off a large patch of skin.
"That's because I wanted to win..." Rock Lee Li muttered softly, his thick, dark eyebrows furrowed in pain, but his eyes were still bright, even carrying a hint of unfinished business. " Shira, you're too strong! I felt like I couldn't touch you no matter how I fought, and when I got impatient..."
"Look at you, you're in such a hurry. Shouldn't you stay calm when you're in a hurry?"
Shira interrupted him, biting through the bandage with her teeth, tying a neat knot, and checking its tightness. " In Taijutsu combat, a moment of mental instability leads to numerous openings. Those last few moves you made today were pure recklessness."
He was telling the truth. In the final stages, because he couldn't break through, some of Rock Lee's moves had become distorted, and he was just relying on sheer grit to hold on.
Rock Lee chuckled twice, without refuting, but looked at his bandaged arm, tried to move his fingers, and winced in pain again.
Naruto squatted beside him, his hands supporting his chin, looking at Rock Lee's arm wrapped up like a dumpling, then at Shira's composed profile, his blue eyes filled with envy and lingering fear.
He had just witnessed how badly Rock Lee was beaten, almost without any ability to fight back, but Rock Lee got up again and again, the flames in his eyes burning even brighter. This fighting spirit made him feel both warm and a little scared.
My goodness, so this is what real Taijutsu training is like? And Shira doesn't look that much older than me, how come she's so strong?
"Um, Lee," Naruto hesitated for a moment before asking, "Did you train like this at the Ninja Academy? You wouldn't get injured Tenten, would you?"
He was a little nervous thinking about going to the Ninja Academy next year. He'd heard that they'd teach a lot of powerful things there, but he'd never heard of having to fall and get bruised Tenten.
When Rock Lee heard " Ninja Academy," the excitement on his face faded a bit, and he pursed his lips.
"At school? Hmph, most of the time is spent practicing basic movements, running, throwing Shuriken, and attending those headache-inducing theory classes."
He flexed his uninjured right hand and clenched his fist. "We do sparring, but it's not very interesting."
"Boring? Why?" Naruto, puzzled.
"Um."
Rock Lee nodded, a hint of resentment flashing in his eyes. "Many people think I only know Taijutsu, that I'm a loser, and that they don't take sparring with me seriously. They either just go through the motions or use Ninjutsu to bully me. They think that without Ninjutsu and Genjutsu, no matter how much Taijutsu you practice, you're just a brute and can't become a true ninja."
As he spoke, his voice unconsciously rose, and his injured arm twitched, aggravating the wound and causing him to hiss again, but he didn't stop talking:
"That's why I'm going to train even harder! Train twice as hard! Train like crazy! I want to master my Taijutsu to the extreme, to the point that will leave them speechless!"
"I will prove that even without Ninjutsu or Genjutsu, with just these fists, these legs, and an indomitable will, I can become an excellent ninja! A ninja stronger than all of them!"
His voice echoed in the empty training ground at dusk, carrying the unique clarity of a young man and an undeniable stubbornness.
The afterglow of the setting sun fell on his face, which was covered with sweat and dust but etched with determination, gilding his thick black eyebrows and bright eyes with a golden edge.
Naruto was stunned. He stared at Rock Lee, as if he were truly getting to know this black-haired classmate for the first time. So, Rock Lee, like himself, wasn't very popular at school?
She was isolated and disliked, while Rock Lee was belittled and had his greatest efforts and dreams denied.
But Rock Lee didn't complain or give up. Instead, he was filled with even greater determination, determined to prove himself through even more intense effort.
"Wow... that's amazing!" Naruto couldn't help but exclaim, his blue eyes shining. "Ride, you can definitely do it! When the time comes, use your Taijutsu to defeat all those guys who look down on you!"
"That's right!" Rock Lee nodded vigorously, a smile returning to his face, though he grimaced slightly from the aggravation of his wound. "This is my Ninja Way!"
Shira listened quietly to their conversation while tidying up the remaining bandages and other odds and ends.
Rock Lee's words were like a pebble thrown into his calm heart lake, creating ripples of complex emotions.
Looking at the black-haired boy before her, whose eyes burned with passion and whose fighting spirit remained high despite his injuries, Shira's thoughts drifted away involuntarily.
It drifted to the Chunin Ninja Exams that shocked the Shinobi World, to the "Lotus of Konoha " that unleashed its astonishing brilliance upon unloading its weights, leaving even the prodigy Neji Hyuga in awe...
At that time, Rock Lee was undoubtedly a "genius of hard work," proving to everyone the ultimate brilliance of Taijutsu with his burning passion.
That battle was his legendary achievement, an eternal classic in the hearts of countless Hokage, and the most powerful testament to the saying "hard work can surpass genius."
But what happened next?
Shira's memories were somewhat hazy, but she still had a general impression. After Shippuden, as the enemies became more and more monstrous, capable of destroying the world at Kekkei Genkai, Rinnegan, Senjutsu, and Tailed Beast Bomb were used in turn.
Taijutsu, especially the kind of Taijutsu like Rock Lee's, seems to be increasingly inadequate in that level of fighting. Rock Lee's figure has gradually faded from the main stage, becoming one of the background characters, occasionally appearing only to assist in actions or to reminisce about his youth.
That once-burning lotus flower, it seems, withered quietly after blooming, sealed away in the glory of the past.
Was it because he didn't work hard enough? No, Rock Lee's efforts never stopped. Was it because he had reached the pinnacle of talent? Perhaps that's a factor. But more likely, it's because the power system of this world has increasingly deviated from the realm of "humanity" in the later stages.
When battles become clashes between gods, demons, immortals, and Buddhas, the efforts and sweat of mortals seem somewhat pale and powerless.
As Shira looked at Rock Lee, who was encouraging Naruto and rubbing his hands together to prepare for a fight against the "villains" of the Ninja Academy, a complex and indescribable emotion welled up in her heart.
It's a little sour, a little astringent, and a little unpleasant.
Such a promising talent, such pure will—is their ultimate fate simply to become a memory of "once amazing"?
Can a hardworking genius truly be no match for the inheritance of bloodlines and the ever-evolving nature of the world?
He didn't know. He was just an observer who had accidentally arrived here, and he himself was even facing the constraint of not being able to use Ninjutsu.
He cannot change the rules of the world, nor can he alter the course of the power system.
But he knew at least that at this moment, on the training field under the setting sun, the boy named Rock Lee's determination was real, his sweat was scalding, and there was light in his eyes.
Shira let out a soft breath, suppressing those heavy sighs about the future back into her heart.
He stood up, dusted off his hands, and said to the two boys who were still enthusiastically discussing "how to shock the whole school with Taijutsu ":
"Alright, the wound is bandaged up. It's getting dark, everyone go home. Li, remember not to get the wound wet. If it's still very swollen tomorrow, go see medical-nin."
"Okay! Got it, Shira!" Rock Lee stood up and waved vigorously with his uninjured arm. "Let's continue tomorrow! We'll spar again when my arm is healed!"
"See you tomorrow!" Naruto jumped up, his golden hair shimmering in the sunset.
The three said their goodbyes and went their separate ways. Shira glanced back and saw that Rock Lee Li was swinging his bandaged arm while gesturing to Naruto, Naruto was nodding and gesturing excitedly.
The setting sun cast long shadows of them, intertwining them before gradually separating.
Shira turned around and walked alone back to the reception area. The evening breeze carried the unique fragrance of Konoha and grass.
He recalled the indomitable Kakkō in Rock Lee's eyes, and then he remembered the lotus flower that had ultimately faded into silence in his memory.
"At least..." he murmured to himself, as if speaking to this cruel yet tender world, "At least while he can still burn brightly, let's not let this Kakkō be extinguished by the wind too quickly."
Night slowly fell.
One by one, the lights in Konoha came on.
The training ground fell silent, save for the messy footprints and a few dark, still-wet drops of water on the sand, silently testifying to the effort and determination that had just been put in...