Chapter 97: Explosion of Youth! (2)
'This guy's physical stats are higher than mine!' Shinji concluded, noticing that Lee still looked as calm and collected as a motionless lake. He was parrying and evading Shinji's strikes effortlessly while slowly increasing the intensity of his own, as if asking through fists and kicks 'is this all you have?'.
Furthermore, although Shinji had always been proud of his instincts and combat sense – forged through the hundreds of undead lives he had reaped in the Uchiha Natural Dungeons and life or death battles against the Bosses and Hidden Bosses of said dungeons – he had to admit that Lee's talent for physical violence was very simply superior to his!
'Who has the audacity to claim Lee was a failure? Such combat instincts are not something that can be trained. And unless Team Gai regularly undergoes life-threatening missions where they put their lives on the line that I did not know of, this is pure talent!' Shinji grimly concluded in his head.
And as this thought was formed, a fist snuck through Shinji's guard and landed on his cheek, pushing him back several feet.
Shinji rubbed against the spot where Lee's fist impacted. It was only a graze since he was able to barely turn his head the moment he saw it coming, dealing little to no damage that was already being recovered from his natural regeneration. But it was a solemn representation that Lee was one notch better than him in terms of physical combat.
Lee frowned as he settled back into his trademarked Goken stance, his round eyes narrowing slightly as if questioning whether Shinji really had the privilege to be so absentminded during their fight when he was only barely able to keep up. It was a faint look of disappointment and provocation.
Shinji grinned. It seemed like Academy Taijutsu was no longer going to cut it.
"Sorry. I will take this seriously from now on." He offered without any prompting from Lee. A sign of respect and self-deprecation that was rare coming from him.
Blood would certainly be shed now that Shinji decided to make full use of this dangerous instrument of violence. Shinji justified that he could just heal up any injuries Lee were to suffer. After all, the consequences to losing this battle was far too punishing to take lightly.
Lee nodded, "Thank you. Otherwise, this would have been a disappointing match."
Hinata saw chakra shuffling into the green spandex wearing genin's muscles, sluggishly and lethargically – a symptom of Lee's deficient chakra system. However, his manipulation of chakra was peculiar in a manner she had not been expecting.
'It's slow, clunky and lacking in both quantity and quality. Yet, why does it feel so… refined? Like a diamond in the rough, very slowly but surely being polished into brilliance.' She noted while observing with her Byakuugan.
'Shinji-kun's on the other hand, is like a raging inferno that is simultaneously controlled like a hurricane rotating in place. However, as much as I hate to admit it, that boy's mastery with chakra enhancement is undeniably more outstanding than Shinji!'
There was not a single iota of chakra being wasted – not a testament to Lee's talent in controlling his chakra, but rather, it was evidence of hundreds and hundreds of hours invested in to the very act of layering his disadvantaged body with chakra. An act the genin have become so intimately familiar with, it had become almost second-nature as though stemming from the same part of his nervous system that controlled breathing while asleep.
It was the only method for Lee to overcome his deficient chakra system, and his only weapon to surpass shinobi who did not suffer from what many others would consider a crippling disability. An ability he had to master to keep up with everyone else around him who achieved the same results with a third the effort.
"What do you see with those eyes of yours?" Tenten remarked to Hinata, eyeing the fight with a satisfied smile on her face, "His chakra system must look like a mess to you, doesn't it?"
Hinata glanced at the fellow kunoichi but remained silent. She was not willing to give her any modicum of satisfaction.
Seeing her kouhai's quiet attempt at defiance, Tenten smirked, "Your Byakugan can see many things, but you can't see a person's history. You may be able to see Lee's small chakra reserves and inefficient chakra control, but you know not of the hours he put into his training. But I have seen it with my own boring and inferior eyes - the blood, sweat and tears he has shed pounding away at a training dummy unceasingly. Day after day, weeks after weeks and months after months. There is no way greenhouse flowers like yourselves can match Lee."
Hinata bit back the retort stuck in her throat. There was an element of truth to what the kunoichi said, but her words were also chock full of hypocrisy. Even if she didn't know how hard the bowl-haired genin trained, Hinata knew how hard Shinji trained despite his prodigal talent. So for her to condescend him as though he had never once worked hard a day in his life was simply conceited.
Though she felt indignant on Shinji's behalf, Hinata also didn't think it necessary to debate the other girl. Results were all that was needed to disprove her half-baked theories and mistaken assumptions. Shinji will defeat the other genin – that, she had no doubt of.
Shino similarly said nothing in response, as was standard for the Aburame. He was clearer than anyone else the rate of Shinji's improvement. It had only been a mere six months since they graduated, but already, Shinji had grown leaps and bounds ahead of their entire graduating class. Asuma had remarked on more than one occasion his praise for Shinji's talent, after all.
In his own taciturn manner, Shino had competed with his prodigious teammate only to see the gap between them widen further and further. Shinji's speed and strength grew constantly, to an almost unnatural extent.
Shino had tried investigating his teammate's body once or twice before using his Kikaichu. It was just a surface analysis over the secret behind Shinji's abnormal growth rate, nothing too intrusive. His findings were… inconclusive. Shinji bled like any other person, there was nothing special in the food he consumed nor in the excrements he discharged. By all appearances, there was nothing unique that stood out about Shinji.
Yet, there was also something definitely odd about his physique that made no sense to the Aburame. However, with his clans' methods, there was no way for him to investigate further. As such, he could only deem his investigations as inconclusive.
Which also meant that Shino had yet to give up competing with Shinji. Because inconclusive findings also meant that the future was not set in stone. Shinji's rate of improvement might possibly slow down in the future, and Shino could eventually catch up. Or at least, that was the only way the Aburame could justify it in a completely rational and logical manner.
Shinji's fingers straightened and flexed, the veins under the skin of his digits bulging as chakra was channelled into his hands. Shinkyoken was deadly and insidious. A bloodthirsty martial art of which its sole purpose was seeking the lives of the practitioner's enemies, in contrast to the blunt and straightforward but honest Goken Lee practiced.
"Do not treat this as disrespect, but I must warn you – my martial art is designed to cut and pierce, not an instrument fashioned for friendly spars. Thus, it will be inevitable for blood to be shed. Although I am proficient in medical ninjutsu and as such will be able to heal injuries that are not too severe, I will still insist on having the decency of giving forewarning. Do you understand?" Shinji warned.
Lee glanced at Shinji's hands which now emanated an aura that was completely different from the Konoha Academy Taijutsu stance he had used a moment before. Although the bowl-haired genin could not compare to his master's command over taijutsu, he could still unabashedly boast that he was the premier taijutsu expert amongst their generation. Yet, he had never once seen such a strange martial art. One that oozed sickly killing intent just from its activation. Clearly Shinji was being serious with his comment.
The taijutsu specialist smiled brightly, "How convenient, medical ninjutsu must be wonderful for training purposes! After the exam is over, we must train together, Shinji-kun!"
Shinji couldn't help but chuckle when he heard Lee's enthusiastic response. Not only did his warning go unheeded, but Lee's reply was also one of utmost confidence, as if politely implying that such a warning was simply unnecessary. Instead, he paid more attention to the fact that Shinji could use medical ninjutsu, and even emphasized that it would be incredibly useful for training.
Not only did such a statement firmly but politely shoot down Shinji's condescending concern for his opponent, it highlighted Lee's incredible dedication, nay, his obsession with training. What a pity, Shinji remarked inwardly, that he had to defeat this admirable individual who despite his deficiencies still achieved this level of strength – a level of strength that would have been considered number one amongst Konoha's genin had it not been for Shinji's transmigration and subsequent intervention.
As such, he could only laugh and agree, "Yes, I look forward to training with you after the exams are over."
Lee nodded in appreciation at the reciprocated gesture. His fists tightened and his feet shifted into the primary stance of the Goken.
For a moment, they were quiet. Under a shared silence of mutual respect and recognition. Before that very silence was broken as the two of them launched themselves at each other.
Their observers watched as the two genin sped towards each other their speed several times what they had been before. Although Shinji was noticeably faster – a result of him activating [Whirlwind Steps]. The current Shinji, with all of his buffs and perks that either passively or actively increased his speed, was of a higher league when compared to Lee who was still weighed down by the heavy chunks of metal strapped to his ankle.
Lee rotated his body as they neared, a tell-tale initiation of his signature move.
"Konoha Senpuu!" He announced, as an orange blur flew towards Shinji's face, a backwards high kick using his left foot. Now that his body and kick was being empowered by chakra, it was multitudes stronger and faster than before. Not to mention those very same weights that held him back also contributed to the devastating power his kick would hold crashing into his opponent – that was only if it landed of course.
Shinji had also similarly enhanced his speed and strength with chakra, and the difference between the two was that Shinji was not limited by a low chakra capacity like his opponent. His chakra reserves were not only larger, but it was also of a higher quality.
Despite the fact that Lee's mastery over chakra enhancement had already surpassed many chuunin, Shinji could similarly achieve the same results via the brute force of his high INT and various perks that amplified the potency of his chakra. If Lee was using 100 CP to enhance himself every minute, Shinji only needed 50 CP to achieve the same results. It's amplifying effect would even be further enhanced if he injected more chakra than was necessary to match Lee.
Shinji swung his arm to intercept Lee's kick with a blade palm, and had it connected, might have sliced into Lee's shin bone.
However, Konoha Senpuu was an ingenious set of moves within the Goken martial art. It was designed with theoretically countless variations, meant to counter an enemy's counter through sheer speed and flexibility of its practitioner. Although Lee's position looked awkward with one foot high in the air directed towards his opponent's face, his hands and other foot could still maneuver to catch Shinji from another angle.
As such, Lee was able to effortless twist himself in mid-air with the help of his hands acting as a fulcrum to rotate his lower body like a break dancer and allow his other leg to fly in from another direction.
Lee could recognize the danger Shinji's deadly looking fingers posed, so though he was curious about the details of his opponent's martial art, he was not willing to test it out. At this point, he was fully treating Shinji's hands as though they were holding knives and approaching him with the same caution as one would an armed attacker.
Thus, Lee's right foot was able to carve right through Shinji… without him even being able to feel any resistance. Shinji's figure faded away as a slight breeze blew past Lee.
'An afterimage!' Lee realised, before his foot even made contact. In truth, he had already noticed Shinji rapidly moving away after launching his second kick. But his body was too slow to react properly, a consequence of the weights holding down his feet that at his moment felt more like an anchor.
The moment Shinji sensed Lee's other foot coming at him from a direction he could not properly block, he decisively used [Flash Step] fuelled by wind nature chakra to disappear from Lee's sight to reappear behind the bowl-haired genin who was helpless to stop his next move.
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone