The examination hall was deathly quiet.
Lee sat upright, eyes fixed ahead, hands flat on the polished desk. The proctor placed three sealed scrolls before him with measured precision: Mission Protocols in red, Field Ethics in green, and the deceptively slim Tactical Analysis in blue.
He unfurled the first scroll.
· · ─────── ·𖥸· ─────── · ·
You are escorting a merchant caravan when bandits ambush the rear guard. The client is wounded, but the enemy disengages and retreats into forest cover.
Who do you prioritize?
· · ─────── ·𖥸· ─────── ·
The mission objective comes first. So I would save the client, secure the perimeter, and report enemy direction and numbers.
The questions kept escalating from there.
Civilians caught in crossfire.
Conflicting orders from a superior whose intel is outdated.
A teammate wounded badly enough to slow the group.
There were really no correct answers. Only the consequences of making them.
Lee's responses were the same as his fighting: controlled and precise, weighing cost against outcome. By the time the last scroll was collected, Lee was already getting up.
"Remain seated," the proctor said.
The lights dimmed.
Chakra seals flared briefly along the walls, and the floor beneath Lee's desk shifted.
The wooden surface dissolved into white stone.
The examination hall transformed into a circular testing arena, its boundaries marked by faintly glowing barrier lines. Around the perimeter, two instructors stepped into view.
A tone chimed.
Basic Jutsu Examination.
A shape flickered into existence ten meters away. It was an Academy combat dummy. A second appeared behind it. Then a third just outside of Lee's direct line of sight.
Lee didn't move immediately. He calculated. Distance. Angles. Blind spots.
Then, a clone appeared beside him.
It stepped forward with an identical posture to Lee, its eyes scanning the field as if it were thinking on its own.
The clone moved left, Lee moved right and as the first dummy lunged.
Lee vanished into the blur of Body Flicker, reappearing half a step inside the dummy's reach. But slightly off-center. The dummy's strike passed through straight air.
The clone mirrored the motion from the opposite side.
The second dummy attacked the clone, but the clone disappeared into a blur of Body Flicker and reappeared behind it.
Then delivered a sharp jab to the marked zone.
Both deactivated their dummy at the same time.
The third dummy attacked Lee from behind.
Lee didn't turn.
His substitution pre-positioned. A loose stone where he had took the impact instead and cracked under the force.
Lee reappeared on top of it while the clone went for a frontal attack. Seconds later the dummy fell under their combined attack. Silence reclaimed the arena.
The first instructor finally spoke, voice low.
"Explain your approach."
"I treated the scenario as an escort mission," he said calmly. "Information first. Positioning second. Engagement only when necessary."
"And the clone?"
"Misdirection," Lee replied. "If an enemy reacts emotionally instead of tactically, they expose themselves."
The first examiner exchanged a glance with the second.
"You used Academy techniques at a level that most genin won't reach for years."
Lee met her gaze, not with pride or apology but with sheer confusion.
"Really?"
The barrier seals faded.
The academic portion was over, yet the room no longer felt quiet.
It felt alert.
Suddenly, the Hokage stepped into view then created a shadow clone that leapt down into the arena. "I'll personally oversee your physical assessment," said the clone with a mild smile.
"If you can force him to use anything beyond pure taijutsu, you pass."
The real Sarutobi tapped his pipe against the arena's railing, but refrained from lighting it respecting the indoor environment of the Academy.
Lee bowed slightly in acknowledgment.
Facing the shadow clone, he and the clone exchanged the customary "Seal of Confrontation."
Without any more preamble, green chakra surged around Lee's fist as he threw the first punch. It was a straight punch aimed at the clone's chest. The Hokage's clone didn't use ninjutsu; he relied on basic chakra reinforcement to meet the attack barehanded. Their forearms collided with a sharp crack.
The impact rippled through the air. And in a single instant, the condensed chakra in Lee's fist exploded outward in a burst of emerald energy, forcing the clone to skid back a step.
Lee didn't let up. He blurred forward in a flicker of motion and unleashed a second strike with his left hand, a feint aimed at the clone's face. Hidden in his right palm, was a swirling sphere of coalesced chakra. A Rasengan, formed one-handed in the heat of battle.
As the clone raised an arm to parry the feint, Lee twisted his hips and drove the Rasengan toward the clone's torso. In a seamless counter, it vanished in a puff of smoke. No, it didn't just vanish; it reappeared behind Lee, its leg sweeping low aimed at the boy's ankles.
Lee sensed the shift and tried to leap out of the way, but the clone's follow-up came fast. A palm strike aimed toward his back. But, his body poofed into a rock, swapping him out as the clone's palm shattered the rock.
Now repositioned to the side, Lee pressed the advantage. Popping a clone of himself into existence,the clone charged in, with a mid-level kick from the right. While the real Lee circled, hurling a kunai straight at the clone's face as a distraction.
The clone deflected the kunai with a backhand, while Lee's clone landed its kick to the shadow clone's ribs, forcing it to grunt then with one kick dispersed the clone. Then the real Lee flickered again, closing the gap to deliver an uppercut laced with explosive chakra.
When Lee's uppercut connected, the Hokages clone got sent staggering backwards. Seizing the moment, Lee drew five more kunai from his pouch and flung them in a wide arc. Thin, shimmering chakra threads trailed from each, near invisible to the untrained eye but pulsing with control.
The clone's eyes narrowed. He slashed outward with his own kunai, severing three threads in a precise arc, but the remaining two kunai veered unpredictably, curving mid-flight under Lee's manipulation like guided missiles homing in on its flank.
One grazed the clone's arm, the other struck true, embedding in the clone's thigh. But in a burst of smoke, the Hokage dismissed his clone with a wave of his hand.
Sarutobi watched Lee, a faint smile breaking through his focused expression. "Chakra threads woven so finely, and manipulated in the midst of battle...Impressive. And that clone, no he hasn't even read it yet so he must have reinforced it with chakra control and because he can summon it without any hand seals… ha i'll be. Lee has perfected the basic clone technique on the level of shadow clone technique."
"Lord Third," Lee said, standing straight but still panting lightly, "If you could give me one more—"
Before Lee could finish, Sarutobi cut him off.
"You passed," the Third Hokage said with a warm smile. "And from now on, you'll only need to submit a weekly report to the medical division and the Academy."
"Really! Thank you so very very much!" Lee said, bowing deeply.
Getting into the Medical Division was vital for him.
One reason was his physical development.
Proper medical knowledge was essential for safely pushing the body's limits.
The other reason was to conduct deeper research in the field of Medicine.
Developing advanced taijutsu techniques, such as Tsunade's terrifying superhuman strength, requires an intimate understanding of muscle fibers, human anatomy, and chakra pathways.
Attempting to recreate such techniques blindly would be suicidal.
"There's no need to thank me," the Hokage said, shaking his head with a smile on his face. "Thank your own hard work."
After hesitating for a moment, he asked curiously, "Why did you decide to train with chakra threads?"
Lee explained honestly.
"It was actually a compromise, sir. Initially, I was trying to mold my chakra into an invisible blade sharp enough to cut muscle fibers upon contact. However, I encountered two problems, one I can't sharpen my chakra and two maintaining a blade shape that covered my hands was unstable. So, I practiced compressing my chakra into a single, high-density line, i.e., a thread.
Understanding dawned in Sarutobi's eyes as he immediately connected the dots.
Chakra scalpel.
It made sense why Lee wanted access to the medical division.
The boy wasn't just thinking about brute force.
He was learning from parallel fields, borrowing concepts, refining them into his own martial system. His planning was meticulous and very forward-thinking.
A deep sadness flickered across the Third Hokage's face.
In Lee, he caught a faint glimpse of someone he had once believed in... a student he had once cherished... who now wore the cloak of a rogue ninja.
For a long moment, Sarutobi said nothing before finally waving his hand, signaling that Lee could leave.
Lee didn't notice the Hokage's conflicted expression.
He bowed again and exited the room quietly.
Only after stepping into the corridor did he let out a long breath. Facing the Hokage's clone had been intense. And truthfully, he could have made the fight even easier.
Yesterday, in the gravity chamber, he had almost perfected and nearly optimized the Rasengan technique.
Thanks to his chakra control, he could now form and launch a Rasengan within eight seconds meaning if he wanted to he could've just spammed them like they were ki blasts.
But simply winning wasn't the point of today.
He needed to display the full breadth of his capabilities, to show that he was a serious investment worth granting access to private sources to. Not just to earn Sarutobi's permission, but his respect.
Because in this world, especially for an orphaned civilian like himself, books and scrolls were worth far more than money.
Lee slipped back into the classroom as if nothing had happened.
As he passed the weapons rack, his eyes lingered on them for half a second.
…Tenten.
He winced internally. He'd brushed her off without thinking.
"Idiot," he scolded himself.
He made a mental note to apologize later. And to invite her to train properly next time.
He listened to the lectures, took notes, while Mizuki said nothing about his meeting with the Hokage; everything continued as normal.
After class, Lee, as usual, started jogging laps around the Hidden Leaf Village.
Training never stopped.
Somewhere along the village's winding streets.
"Hey, I heard the Hokage visited your school today?" Might Guy called out, jogging up to catch up with Lee.
"Yes, Guy-Sensei," Lee replied, slowing his pace slightly. "He met with me. I'm now allowed to study with the medical division."
Then he paused, frowning slightly.
"Wait, you're joining the medical corps? To study medical ninjutsu?"
"It's complicated, Guy-Sensei, I want a broader and deeper understanding of human anatomy but I also think it'll be useful to learn about medicine."
Guy looked utterly baffled. He couldn't wrap his head around why Lee would want to learn about human anatomy.
But after a moment, he simply shrugged and burst out laughing again.
"Well, if it's what you believe will lead you down your own path, go for it! Because no matter what, the flames of youth will always burn bright within Lee!"
Lee chuckled softly, letting Guy's infectious energy buoy his own spirit.
"Thank you, Guy-Sensei!"
The two of them sprinted into the fading sunlight, leaving behind long shadows that danced on the village walls.