Tenten was already at the village gates when Lee arrived.
She was leaning against the guard post with her arms crossed and scrolls strapped at her waist. Her hair was in her usual twin buns. She looked the same as she always did.
"Tenten!" Lee waved as he jogged the last stretch.
"You're late." She pushed off the guard post.
"I had to feed Kagerou! He gets sad if I leave without feeding him."
"You and that snake." Tenten shook her head. "So did you see Aoba-san?"
"Aoba-san is the captain. Koharu-sama said we'd be meeting him at the gate."
"Then who is she?"
Three grey dogs rounded the corner of the guard station at an easy trot. They were medium-large, grey-furred with white undersides and short pointed ears, built like huskies. Identical. All three of them stopped at the edge of the gate and sat in a neat line, tongues out, tails swishing the dirt.
A woman followed them.
She was tall, maybe five-seven, with long brown hair pulled into a ponytail and two locks framing her face. She had the red fang-like tattoos on both cheeks that Lee had seen somewhere before. Her flak jacket was the standard Konoha issue but modified, the front unzipped. A brace on her left wrist. Bandages on her upper arm around what looked like a flower tattoo.
She was older than them. Eighteen, maybe.
"You two must be the famous Rock Lee and Tenten." She stopped in front of them and looked them over. "Hana Inuzuka. Chunin. I've been assigned to your escort team."
"Rock Lee!" Lee saluted. "It is a pleasure to meet you, Hana-san!"
"Tenten." Tenten gave a wave, then looked at the three dogs. "And these are...?"
"The Haimaru Brothers." Hana scratched the ear of the nearest one without looking down. "They go where I go."
"They're triplets?" Lee crouched immediately. "Can I pet them?"
"They'll let you know if they don't want to be touched."
Lee reached out. The closest Haimaru sniffed his hand, considered it, and then pushed his head into Lee's palm with a low sound that was half rumble, half purr. Lee's face split into a grin that could have powered the village.
"He likes me!"
"He likes everyone." Hana's mouth twitched. "Don't let it go to your head."
Tenten was studying Hana's face. The tattoos. The clan markings.
"Inuzuka." Tenten said it slowly. "Are you related to Kiba?"
"He's my little brother."
Lee and Tenten looked at each other.
The last time either of them had seen Kiba was during the Chunin Exam preliminaries. Lee had been watching from the balcony. Naruto had been losing the fight badly until, in what was possibly the least dignified comeback in the history of Konoha's shinobi exams, he had accidentally farted in Kiba's face at point-blank range and used the moment of him being incapacitated to finish him off.
Lee did not know what to do with this information in the context of meeting Kiba's older sister.
"Your brother fought bravely in the exams!" Lee offered.
"He lost to a fart, you don't have to sugarcoat it. Mom has been taking him through the ringer after finding out. Said he's the shame of the Inuzuka." Hana said flatly.
"Uhh…" Lee had a hard time trying to say something nice or inspirational. "At least now he knows what to focus on for improvement?"
"I guess so." Hana's expression did not change. "That Uzumaki kid. I wonder if he knew the weakness of our sensitive nose and guessed that Kiba didn't train to eliminate that weakness or if it was coincidental."
Tenten fought herself from laughing. "It was definitely not on purpose."
"I had a feeling," Hana shook her head with a small smile. "He needed the humility, anyway. Kiba had a block on his shoulder that needed chipping." She looked between them. "You two were on Team Guy, right? With the Hyuga."
The name sat in the air for a moment.
"Yes," Lee said. "Neji was our teammate."
"I wonder what happened to him."
"He passed away." Lee told her.
"Oh, I'm sorry for your loss…" She turned and checked the straps on her pack, and the Haimaru Brothers rose from their sitting position and reformed around her legs.
"So." She faced them again. "Where's our captain?"
A figure approached from the main road leading to the gate.
He was tall, dark-haired, and wearing sunglasses. His flak jacket was standard issue. His forehead protector was tilted slightly to the left.
"You all must be the escort team." He raised a lazy hand. "Aoba Yamashiro. Special Jonin. I'm your captain for this mission."
"Rock Lee! It is an honor to meet you, Aoba-san!" Lee saluted.
"Tenten." She gave a polite wave.
"Hana Inuzuka." Hana nodded. The Haimaru Brothers sat in formation beside her.
Aoba looked at the four of them for a moment. Two genin, a chunin, and three dogs. His mouth twitched behind the sunglasses.
"So I've got two of Guy's kids and an Inuzuka medic." He scratched the back of his head. "Lucky me. This mission should be a piece of cake. Honestly, after what I heard about the Land of Frost mission, the two of you might be overkill for a simple escort."
"You know about that?" Lee perked up.
"Everyone at the mission desk knows about it. The two of you crashed through a Cloud base, killed five on entry, and scared the rest into retreating to Lightning Country." Aoba pushed his sunglasses up. "You're going to have to tell me the whole story on the road."
Hana glanced at Lee and found a hard time connecting him to the boy of the rumors she'd been hearing.
The Water Daimyo arrived in a modest palanquin carried by four attendants. He was an older man, fifty at least, with deep lines in his face and small black eyes that moved constantly. He wore a light-yellow kimono and the traditional daimyo headgear. His hands were clasped in front of him. He did not look like a man who enjoyed traveling.
Beside the palanquin walked his aide, a thin, neatly dressed man with a scowl on his face.
"Lord Daimyo." Aoba stepped forward and bowed. "I'm Special Jonin Aoba Yamashiro. I'll be leading your escort back to the Land of Water. These are my squadmates."
The Daimyo's eyes moved across the four of them and stopped on Lee.
"Rock Lee." The Daimyo's voice was quiet but carried. "I watched the Chunin Exams. Your match was exciting to see."
"You honor me, Lord Daimyo!" Lee bowed deeply.
"I must say, I feel particularly safe knowing that you are part of my escort." The Daimyo allowed himself a small nod. "Konoha's reputation for producing remarkable shinobi appears well-earned."
"I will protect you with my life, Lord Daimyo!" Lee declared.
"We all will," Hana added calmly. The Haimaru Brothers stood at attention beside her, ears forward.
"Let's hope it doesn't come to that." The Daimyo's mouth faintly smiled. "Shall we depart?"
They set off.
The formation was simple. Aoba took point. Lee flanked the palanquin on the left. Tenten held the right. Hana and the Haimaru Brothers took the rear, the dogs fanning out in a loose triangle behind the group, noses working, ears rotating. The attendants carried the Daimyo between them at a civilian pace.
Lee recounted the Cloud mission for Hana as they walked. Every detail. The ambush in the snow. The split formation. Tenten's Rising Twin Dragons. The metal doll through the roof. The cloud's retreat.
Hana listened without interrupting.
"They called him Konoha's Green Savage Devil," Tenten added.
"Did they call you anything?" Hana asked Tenten.
"A nobody..." Tenten pouted.
Hana's mouth twitched. "Their loss."
"That's what I said!" Lee jumped in.
"Give it time," Hana said. "Reputations aren't built in one mission."
Tenten nodded with her game face back on.
"You'll get your nickname," Hana told Tenten. "Just keep showing up and keep fighting. The name comes when it comes."
It was a simple thing to say. But from a chunin who had already walked the road they were on, it landed different than it would have from a peer.
"Would you all conduct yourselves with some dignity?!" The Daimyo's aide had reached his limit. "You are escorting the Water Daimyo! Not going on a picnic! The least you could do is act with the proper decorum befitting shinobi in the service of a head of state!"
The aide's face was red. His hands were balled at his sides.
The nearest Haimaru Brother turned his head toward the aide and let out a sharp bark. It made the hair on the aide's neck stand up.
The aide's mouth shut.
"Let them be." The Water Daimyo's voice came from inside the palanquin, calm and unbothered. "Konoha chose them as my escort. I trust their judgment. If these young shinobi wish to speak freely among themselves, they may do so."
The aide bowed quickly to the palanquin, shot one more glance at the dog that was still watching him with flat amber eyes, and retreated to his position beside the attendants without another word.
Hana reached down and scratched the Haimaru Brother behind the ear.
"Good boy," she murmured.
Lee gave the dog a thumbs up behind the palanquin where the aide could not see it.
They made good time through Fire Country. The route would take them southeast through the coastal territories before reaching the port town where they would board a ship to the Land of Water. Two days of overland travel, then a sea crossing.
As the sun began to drop and the group settled into a campsite near a river, Aoba sat on a fallen log and watched the team set up.
Hana was checking the Haimaru Brothers for ticks and burrs, her hands moving through their fur like she's done it thousands of times. Lee was gathering firewood and training at the same time. Tenten was setting a wire traps around the campsite's outer edge.
"One thing I should ask before we hit the coast." Aoba's tone was casual. "Can all of you walk on water?"
Lee and Tenten nodded.
"Guy-sensei taught us that a long time ago," Lee said.
Hana nodded as well. "Lucky you. Some jonin don't even bother teaching their genin all the basics."
Aoba let out a breath of genuine relief. "Good. Because I really did not want to have to teach water walking twenty-four hours before a sea crossing."
The campfire crackled. The Daimyo had retired to his tent. His aide had retired to his own tent. The attendants were sleeping near the palanquin.
The four shinobi sat around the fire. The Haimaru Brothers had curled up in a pile near Hana, three grey bodies overlapping in a warm knot.
"Aoba-san. How does one become a Special Jonin?" Lee's voice cut through the crackling.
Aoba tilted his head. "Thinking about promotions already?"
"I'm thinking about the path forward." Lee's eyes were on the fire. "I want to understand the progression."
"Fair enough." Aoba leaned back on his hands. "Special Jonin are shinobi who excel in a certain area or skill rather than having all-around jonin-level abilities. Instead of being good at everything, you're exceptional at something. And that something is valuable enough that the village recognizes it with the rank."
"Like medical ninjutsu?" Tenten glanced at Hana.
"That's one path," Hana confirmed. "My specialization is veterinary medicine. If I wanted to push for Special Jonin, I'd have a case. I just haven't pursued it yet."
"Why not?" Lee asked.
"Because I'm more useful in the clinic than I am chasing a title." Hana shrugged. "Rank doesn't make you better at your job. It just changes what missions they assign you."
Aoba nodded. "She's not wrong. But for you two, promotions open doors. Chunin means you lead squads. Special Jonin means the village trusts you with specific high-level responsibilities. Full Jonin means you're trusted with everything."
"Can Special Jonin lead genin teams?" Tenten asked.
"They can. They're given the same opportunity as full jonin in that regard."
"What about taijutsu?" Lee leaned forward. "Would my expertise in taijutsu count toward a Special Jonin promotion?"
Aoba scratched his chin. "Honestly? It's possible. But taijutsu alone might be a hard sell. Your sensei is a full jonin, not a special jonin, and his taijutsu is the best in the village. So the question becomes whether taijutsu alone gets you to Special Jonin or whether Guy's overall skill set is what got him to jonin."
"Now, if you were able to teach others to an impressive level in taijutsu, that might change things," Aoba continued. "A shinobi who can fight and a shinobi who can fight and teach are two different assets. But you'd also need people to vouch for you and a high mission success rate. The rank isn't just about skill. It's about merit as well."
Tenten raised her hand slightly. "What about weapons mastery? Or fuinjutsu?"
"Fuinjutsu specialists are rare. If you're proficient in that area and you can teach it, you'd be an extremely attractive candidate." Aoba glanced between Lee and Tenten. "Out of you two, she might have the clearest shot at Special Jonin."
Tenten beamed at that statement.
"I don't know about that," Lee said with a grin. "I intend to become a full Jonin no matter what!"
"At least aim for chunin first," Hana said dryly.
The fire crackled.
"How does one become a jonin, then?" Lee asked.
Aoba was more than happy to share.
"There are a couple of different ways. The first is recommendation. If enough shinobi peers and the Hokage agree that you're ready, you can be nominated and promoted. That's how most jonin get there. The village watches your performance, your mission record, your leadership, your overall capabilities, and when the time is right, you get the nod."
"And the second way?" Tenten asked.
Aoba's voice dropped with a mischievous smile on his face.
"The Jonin Exam." He whispered.
The two genin leaned in. Even Hana's eyebrow went up.
"It's classified." Aoba's expression had gone serious. The firelight caught the edges of his sunglasses in a way that made his face harder to read. "I can't go into detail about what it involves. What I can tell you is that it's real, it exists, and it makes the Chunin Exams look like a joke in comparison. Even I failed multiple times."
Silence.
"A joke?!" Tenten repeated.
"A joke," Aoba confirmed. "The Chunin Exams test whether you can survive. The Jonin Exam tests whether you deserve to lead. Those are two very different questions."
Lee's whole body was vibrating.
"That sounds INCREDIBLE!" His fist shot into the air. "I will pass the Jonin Exam no matter what!"
"I'm going to get recommended and pass the exam," Tenten declared. "Just to prove I can."
Hana looked at the two of them. Two fourteen-year-olds who had just been told that the hardest exam in the shinobi world existed and whose response was excitement rather than fear.
"You two really are Guy's students, huh?" she said.
Aoba laughed. "That's what I thought too!"
The fire had burned lower. The Daimyo's tent was dark and quiet. The aide had stopped shuffling around an hour ago. The sounds of the forest had taken over, cicadas and the distant rush of the river.
Aoba rummaged through his vest and produced a small stack of rectangular paper slips.
"Since we're talking about promotions and growth anyway." He held up one of the slips between two fingers. "Have you two done the chakra paper test?"
Lee blinked. "The what?"
"Chakra paper. Special paper made from trees that are fed with chakra. You channel your chakra into it and it reacts based on your elemental affinity." He turned the slip so the firelight caught its surface. "If it splits, you're wind. Crumbles to dirt, earth. Burns, fire. Wrinkles, lightning. Gets wet, water." Aoba held out a slip to Lee and one to Tenten.
Lee took the paper in both hands. He held it like it was something precious.
"Just channel your chakra through it," Aoba instructed. "Same way you'd channel chakra to your feet for wall-walking. Just push it into the paper."
Lee focused.
The paper darkened.
It started at the center and spread outward in a slow, even circle, the dry surface going damp and then wet and then dripping. Within three seconds, the entire slip was soaked through. Water ran down Lee's fingers and dripped onto the dirt between his knees.
"Water," Aoba said. "Strong affinity, too. That paper practically dissolved."
Lee stared at his wet hand.
"Water." He said it with surprise. "I figured I would have a fire affinity if anything."
"Me too!" Tenten's eyes were practically bulging outside her head.
"Your turn." Aoba nodded at Tenten.
Tenten held the paper between her index finger and thumb. She channeled her chakra. The paper reacted in two ways simultaneously.
The left half crinkled and wrinkled, the surface compressing in on itself with small sparks of static visible along the creases. The right half split cleanly down the middle, the cut so precise it looked like it had been made with a blade.
"Lightning and wind." Aoba let out a low whistle. "Two affinities. That's a nice combo."
"Lightning and wind." Tenten held the two halves of the crinkled, split paper up to the firelight. "For a weapons user, that's..."
"Perfect," Hana finished. One of the Haimaru Brothers lifted his head at the word and then put it back down.
"Lightning for conducting through metal. Wind for cutting enhancement." Aoba nodded. "Yeah. If you learn to channel those natures through your weapons, you're going to be a nightmare for anyone standing across from you."
Tenten's eyes were bright. She folded the two halves of paper carefully and slipped them into her pouch as if they were valuable.
"So what does training look like?" Lee asked. "For nature transformation."
Aoba held up a finger. "For each element, the basic training takes about half a year for the first level if you have the affinity. That timeline can be shortened by visualization. You find something that captures the essence of the element and you meditate on it. Channel into it. Let it teach you what the nature feels like."
"What kind of visualization?" Lee asked.
"Depends on the element. For water, you'd want to work with actual water. A river, a lake, rain. Feel how it moves. How it adapts. How it finds the path of least resistance. For lightning, you'd focus on speed, on the snap of connection, on the instant something jumps from one point to another. For wind, it's about cutting, about the invisible edge that separates one thing from another."
"And earth?" Lee glanced at Hana.
"Stubbornness," Hana said. "You plant yourself and you don't move. The ground doesn't care what's standing on it. It holds."
Aoba grinned. "I was going to say stability and density, but stubbornness works."
Later, after Aoba had gone to take first watch and Hana had settled into her bedroll with the Haimaru Brothers piled around her like living blankets, Lee sat by the dying fire with his hands extended over the last of the heat.
His chakra paper was still wet between his fingers. He had kept it.
Water.
He could not use ninjutsu. He could not mold chakra into external techniques. He could not shoot water from his mouth the way other shinobi did. That was not going to change.
But nature transformation was not only about external jutsu.
Water was adaptive. Water flowed around obstacles instead of through them. Water found the path of least resistance and took it, and when there was no path of least resistance, water made one by wearing down whatever was in the way.
Lee looked at the slip of wet paper.
He did not know what a water nature would do for a taijutsu specialist who could not use ninjutsu. He did not know if it would do anything at all.
But he was going to find out anyway.
He tucked the paper into his vest, lay down on his bedroll, and closed his eyes.
Sleep came easily. His body was tired from the traveling. His mind was full.
Lee fell asleep with the sound of the river running somewhere in the dark beyond the campsite, and the sound of water was, for the first time, a sound that felt like it belonged to him.