Before his consciousness completely sank into darkness, Lee thought he could hear the roar of a blond boy and Guy-sensei's heart-wrenching cries.
'It's so noisy.'
'Can't a guy just die in peace for once?'
That was Rock Lee's final thought before everything went black.
When Lee opened his eyes again, he found himself staring at the familiar white ceiling of a hospital room.
The sharp smell of disinfectant burned his nostrils, but oddly enough, it felt reassuring.
He flexed his fingers experimentally, then his arm, and finally sat up abruptly in bed.
There was no pain.
Not even the slightest twinge.
'This isn't right.'
Lee looked down at his body, wrapped in bandages like a mummy, but beneath those layers he could feel intact skin and healthy muscle tissue.
The excruciating agony of having every bone crushed by Gaara's sand felt like nothing more than a distant nightmare now.
He immediately forced himself to calm down and focused on the interface in his mind.
[Adaptive Body System]
[Host: Rock Lee]
[Vitality Points: 1400]
[Abilities: Absolute Persistence (Inactive), Accelerated Regeneration (Available)]
The points were still there.
Which meant he hadn't used the system to heal himself.
So what had happened to his body?
The image of the medical ninja's terrified face flashed through his mind, along with the man's grim pronouncement that Lee would "probably never work as a shinobi again."
Right.
To everyone else, his current condition should read as "catastrophically injured, miraculously survived, but permanently crippled."
Was this perfect recovery a passive effect of the system he didn't know about?
Or was it something else?
Lee closed his eyes and carefully examined his own body from within.
Deep in his soul, he sensed another presence.
A burning obsession, pure and intense, like an eternal flame.
That belonged to the original Rock Lee.
It was that stubborn determination that had forced this broken body to stand and assume a fighting stance when the modern Lee had chosen to play dead.
It was that refusal to surrender that had shocked thousands of spectators and created the perfect cover for him.
The soul of the modern office worker pursued maximum efficiency, calculated risks, and early retirement.
The original Rock Lee's soul burned with passion, determination to prove himself, and an unquenchable fire of youth.
Two completely opposite personalities that should have clashed violently.
But sitting there in that quiet hospital room, Lee smiled.
Clash?
No. This was a perfect partnership.
The original Rock Lee's passionate determination paired with the modern Lee's strategic mind and survival instincts.
One would handle the public persona, the other would scheme in private.
One for show, one for results.
Why would he resist something like this?
Lee felt like he should embrace it wholeheartedly.
The original Rock Lee's burning youth would serve as the perfect cover for the modern Lee's ruthless efficiency and calculated growth.
He could use the universally understood concept of "hard work conquers all" to explain away every insane training decision he made.
From this moment forward, he was Rock Lee. The one and only Rock Lee.
A man who would treat the entire shinobi world like his personal training ground, pushing boundaries until he became Konohagakure's ultimate monster.
In the original story's later arcs, Rock Lee had been completely sidelined. Once the narrative shifted to reincarnations of gods, jinchuriki, and those with legendary bloodlines, pure hard work became irrelevant. Lee's dedication meant nothing in the face of inherited power.
But in this life, with both souls unified, things would be different.
This time, he'd make the shinobi world acknowledge him properly.
Having sorted out his thoughts, Lee felt the obsession deep within his soul merge completely with his consciousness, becoming truly inseparable.
An unprecedented sense of complete control spread throughout his entire body.
Perfect.
Creak.
The door to his hospital room opened slowly.
Lee immediately lay back down, closed his eyes, regulated his breathing, and transformed back into that pitiful "severely injured patient barely clinging to life."
After over a decade of corporate survival, his acting skills were flawless.
Light footsteps approached his bedside and stopped.
Lee could feel someone's worried gaze fixed on him.
"Lee..."
It was Tenten's voice, trembling slightly with emotion.
"The doctor said you might suffer permanent damage. They said you might never be able to work as a shinobi again..."
She trailed off, but he could hear her struggling to hold back tears.
Lee decided to give her a pleasant surprise.
Slowly, as though it took tremendous effort, he opened his eyes. His gaze appeared unfocused, and he spoke in a hoarse whisper.
"Tenten?"
"Lee! You're awake!"
The girl's voice flooded with relief and joy as she immediately leaned down closer to him.
Her delicate, pretty face filled his entire field of vision.
She was so close that strands of her hair fell across Lee's face, tickling his skin.
He could smell the faint scent of weapon oil mixed with clean sweat. She always smelled like this after training, practical and no-nonsense.
It was a good smell.
Her large, expressive eyes were wet with unshed tears, reflecting lingering fear and deep concern, which only made her features appear more vivid and alive.
'Wow, Tenten's actually really beautiful.'
In his previous life, Lee had worked so much overtime that he'd barely registered what his female colleagues even looked like.
Then he'd transmigrated and immediately ended up in intensive care.
This was genuinely the first time he'd looked at a girl this closely with the mindset of a normal young man, rather than an exhausted office drone.
She really was pretty.
"How are you feeling? Does anything hurt? Should I call a doctor?" Tenten's cheeks flushed slightly when she noticed him staring so intently at her face.
"No need." Lee shook his head, forcing a weak smile. "I'm okay. Sorry for making you worry."
"What do you mean okay? You idiot! You absolute moron! You reckless dummy!"
Tenten's eyes reddened with tears that began streaming down her cheeks. She gently tapped his chest with her small fist.
"Do you have any idea how close you came to dying? Everyone said there was no hope! Even Guy-sensei thought..."
Her punches had no real force behind them. It was more like a child's frustrated tantrum than any actual attack.
But Lee winced dramatically and let out an exaggerated "Ow!" while frowning as though in pain.
"Ah! I'm so sorry! Did I hurt you?" Tenten froze in panic, immediately stopping and anxiously reaching to check for injuries.
"It's nothing," he said, catching her hand as it rested against his chest. Her hand was smaller than his, with thin calluses on her palms from years of weapons training. "I'm just feeling a little weak, that's all."
Lee's statement was half true and half calculated deception.
His strength genuinely hadn't fully recovered yet, but his main objective was simply to hold her hand.
Her skin was smooth and warm to the touch.
It felt really nice.
The moment Lee grabbed her hand, Tenten's face turned even redder, like a perfectly ripe apple.
She wanted to pull away but was terrified of accidentally hurting him, so she froze there completely, unsure what to do.
"Your hands feel rougher than before," Lee said gently, running his thumb across the calluses on her palm with complete sincerity. "Have you been training too hard lately?"
"I haven't!" Tenten's eyes darted around nervously, her voice barely above a whisper. "But you! You're not allowed to be so reckless ever again! With proper rest and treatment, you still have a chance to recover completely, understand?"
"I understand," Lee replied with a warm smile.
Inner thoughts: 'Absolutely not happening. I'll do it again next time. Next time I need to find something even more dangerous to fight. Maybe I should ask Guy-sensei to use Daytime Tiger during a sparring match? I wonder how many Vitality Points I'd earn from that. Though one punch might actually kill me outright, which would be a problem.'
Looking at the girl in front of him, genuinely worried and crying over his condition, Lee felt a small piece of the ice surrounding his corporate-slave heart begin to melt.
'Being cared about like this isn't so bad after all. Especially being cared about by a pretty girl.'
Just then, the hospital room door was suddenly kicked open with a tremendous bang.
"LEE!"
Might Guy's tear-streaked face appeared in the doorway, magnified and overwhelming. He burst into the room with an absurdly exaggerated flourish, followed by Neji, who looked thoroughly resigned to this behavior.
"Oh, Lee! You're awake! Your youth hasn't been extinguished by this minor setback! I can feel it! The passionate flames burning within you shine even brighter than the sun itself!"
Guy rushed to the bedside, tears streaming down his face dramatically.
Tenten yanked her hand back from Lee's grasp as though she'd been electrocuted, her face turning bright crimson.
Lee thought to himself, 'And there goes our precious moment together. Thanks, Guy-sensei.'
"Guy-sensei..." he responded, matching his teacher's passionate energy perfectly, "I can feel it too! I can keep going! I won't give up!"
"Beautifully said, Lee!" Guy clenched his fists excitedly, practically vibrating with emotion. "Once you're discharged from the hospital, to celebrate your recovery, we'll do fifty handstand laps around Konohagakure as rehabilitation training!"
"That's not enough!" Lee's eyes blazed with determination, his voice even louder than Guy's. "Guy-sensei! I want to do one hundred laps!"
"LEE!"
"GUY-SENSEI!"
Neji stood off to the side with one hand pressed against his forehead, looking like he desperately wanted to deny any association with these two ridiculous people.
Tenten watched the passionate exchange between Lee and Guy-sensei, her embarrassment gradually fading. It was replaced by a complicated expression that mixed exasperation with something that looked suspiciously like fond affection, though she probably didn't realize it herself.
Lee looked at all of them and grinned genuinely.
'This kind of life seems way more interesting than being a corporate drone working myself to death.'
His retirement plans could proceed gradually, one step at a time.
But his training to grow stronger couldn't stop for even a single moment.
He glanced toward the window. Sunlight streamed through, warm and bright.
A new life had officially begun.