Rock Lee

**Rock Lee** is a chūnin-level shinobi of Konohagakure, a master of taijutsu, and a member of Team Guy. He is also the proud student of his teacher, Might Guy.

## Physical Appearance

Lee is a lean, muscular young man of fairly tall stature, who possesses very thick eyebrows (leading him to the nickname "**Centipede Brows**" ("*Bushy Brows*" in the English Dub) by Naruto) and large, rounded black eyes with prominent lower eyelashes. Lee's hairstyle is a bowl-cut style like Guy's and wears the same attire as his sensei, consisting of a green jumpsuit and orange leg warmers, but doesn't wear a red forehead protector around his waist as a belt. The only difference in his attire were the bandages arond his hands and wrists, which also cover a series of stiches on his left hand, a trait that was due to his rigirous taijutsu training. He also wears a green flak jacket that is zipped up unlike his sensei.

## Personality

Lee is extremely energetic, single-minded, fearless and hot-blooded. Despite his very passionate nature, Lee has also shown strong instincts, able stay focused at the mission at hand, rarely losing his composure, and notice the presence people around him, even recognizing his friends. He is characterized as being the epitome of a "nice guy", having assumed many of Guy's personality quirks. One such trait is his apparent lack of common sense, believing at times that he can get what he wants by not wanting it. At other times, he takes copious notes, but forgets that he cannot check them during a fight. He has a keen sense of honor, and respects his opponents, refusing to hold grudges against those who have defeated him, and returning favors to those that have helped him. This was shown by his befriending of Gaara, forgiving him for crushing his arm and leg - injuries that nearly ended his career as a shinobi. Lee feels others should show the same respect towards their opponents, and is disgusted whenever someone is unnecessarily cruel to their enemies.

Lee is known for speaking respectfully to others, being very proper in both English and Japanese language versions of both *Naruto* anime series, and never using contractions or swearwords. He also uses formal Japanese, applying proper titles ("-san", "-kun", etc.) to anyone he meets. However, Lee refers to his team-mates Neji Hyūga and Tenten just by their given names, implying that he is close enough to them to use such an informal way to speak to them. His relationship with Guy has also caused him to acquire many of Guy's traits; in addition to his personality, his dedication to his promises, as well as his belief that one cannot dislike food, are characteristics of Guy. Lee also carries this small book and pencil to recall the various bits of information Guy has given him over time.

Lee's attempts to prove and better himself are recurring themes for his actions throughout the series. He is generally optimistic, and believes that, with hard work and passion, he can surpass a natural genius, but can be prone to depression when faced with setbacks. His drive to succeed was initially most evident with his rivalry with Neji, having learned from Guy that having a rival will provide incentive to succeed. Neji, a "genius" ninja, found Lee's efforts of bettering himself to be in vain, and believed that Lee would be a "failure" for the rest of his life. Also, when making a promise, Lee assigns himself arduous tasks to complete in the event that he doesn't live up to his expectations. When this promise is broken, usually just barely, he trains to prevent it from happening again.

As such, Lee resolved to prove Neji wrong, and confronted another "genius", Sasuke Uchiha, in an attempt to test his worth. While Lee maintained the desire to defeat Neji in a fight throughout the Chūnin Exams, after Neji's eventual defeat by Naruto Uzumaki, another so-called "failure", Lee became less interested in this goal. Neji's rejection of his previous belief in fate also contributed to this, as he now respects Lee, believing that he will surpass the gifted with enough work.

## Abilities

**Taijutsu Master**: Because his shortcomings in ninjutsu and genjutsu makes life as a ninja difficult, Lee's dream is to become a famous ninja who uses only taijutsu. Taking a liking to Lee and his resolve, Might Guy has specially trained him to reach this goal, teaching him a number of forbidden techniques in the process. The most basic of these is his Strong Fist style of combat, a martial art style focusing on external damage. While his taijutsu was originally only just above average, through gruelling training, Lee revealed an enormous potential for the art, essentially becoming a taijutsu master while still a child. His prowess surpasses those of more experienced ninja, able to keep up with Guy himself, and it is only in unique circumstances that his taijutsu is not enough to defeat an opponent. Lee has trained so extensively he can run and even fight while unconscious, using nothing but pure muscle memory. A flashback highlighted that Lee can run in his sleep, due to training from Guy. Lee could fight against Gari, avoiding each and every one of his explosive punches and defeating him with a well-placed kick to the head. With Guy's help, he could hold off the Nine-Tailed Naruto Clone with just taijutsu despite it being in a "Version 2" state. His mastery of taijutsu is enough for him to overwhelm and defeat the legendary taijutsu master, Chen.

* **Immense Speed and Reflexes**: Since Guy began training him, Lee has worn extremely heavy weights on his ankles that appear deceptively light. These weights have increased his strength at the cost of inhibiting his speed to levels that his peers still consider quite fast, great enough to outpace the perception of a two-tomoe Sharingan. Upon removing the weights, which caused the entire arena to shake upon impact, Lee's speed vastly increases, making it almost impossible to see his movements with the unaided eye, as well as enabling him to be the first person ever to bypass Gaara's defences and strike him. Lee's speed further improved in *Naruto Shippuden* as he could intercept a charge from Haku, who is known for his speed both in and out of his Demonic Mirroring Ice Crystals.
* **Immense Strength**: Lee also possesses immense physical strength, as he could drive his hand into the earth to rip up a huge section of a giant tree's root. During the Fourth Shinobi World War, after being enhanced by Kurama's chakra, he could completely bisect Madara Uchiha with a single kick.
* **Enhanced Agility**:
* **Enhanced Endurance**:
* **Enhanced Durability**: Lee is quite durable in battle, able to handle punishment that is extremely dangerous and can still continue to fight against all odds.

**The Eight Gates**: Through Guy's teachings, Lee has learned how to open the first five of the chakra gates at the age of 12, and later the sixth gate sometime before the Fourth Great Ninja War. This feat caused him to be recognised as a genius by the likes of Kakashi Hatake as it is highly difficult for even the most talented ninja to open a single gate regardless of hard work. Because of the danger to his body that the gates' power presents, Lee is only permitted to open them in certain circumstances such as life-or-death situations, protecting someone dear, or defending his way of the ninja. Most humans can only access less than 20% of their muscle potential, but the eight gates uses chakra to "force" the muscles to work at much more power than they normally do, allowing the user to run at phenomenal speeds, pick up enormous weights, and much more at the expense of the muscles themselves. Near 50%, the muscles start to wear down and tear. Much more than that, approaching 100%, the muscles begin to break down and disintegrate. Once the Eighth Gate has been opened, they are practically unstoppable, but the user dies in the process. Lee has also learned or developed a number of taijutsu that take advantage of the extreme power and speed he gains from opening chakra gates. After the timeskip, Lee can now open the chakra gates instantly, even showing a faster recovery rate from using them without suffering any of the damaging after-effects, but he still shows noticeable exhaustion.

**Great Chakra Power**: As a chunin-class shinobi and a student trained under Might Guy, Lee boasts a great amount of chakra power. Though he is a ninja unable to use ninjutsu externally, he can still mould and use chakra, as shown when using his tree and water walking skills. He can also instead use his chakra internally to augment his taijutsu.

**Expert Weapons Specialist**: Lee is proficient with melee weapons such as wielding a pair of tonfas, nunchucks, or a collapsible bo-staff to augment his combat prowess and fight on par with armed practitioners of his caliber.

**Enhanced Senses**: As a properly-trained ninja, Lee is more aware of his surrounding through his senses than a regular person would be. This is highlighted in the Three-Tails' Appearance, when he was blinded by Kigiri's Destroying Smell Smoke Prison. Lee called on his training from Might Guy to be able to home in on Kiho through his "*spirit sensor*" - which he had developed through unceasing diligence and determination.