"Lee."
His head rang painfully as the sound echoed in his ears. It felt strangely familiar though he could swear he had never heard it before. The language being spoken wasn't english either, but an otaku he was, he instantly recognised it as japanese.
"Rock Lee! We're in the middle of a spar! What are you spacing out for?!"
The voice rose in pitch, irritation leaking through each word. It stung his ears, pulling him forcefully toward awareness.
He forcefully opened his eyes only to squint immediately as bright sunlight flooded his face all at once. Spots danced across his sigh. After a moment of blurness, he scanned his surroundings.
A boy stood across him, no older than ten. He had long pale brown hair tied behind his head and stood upright, his features sharp in a way that felt unnatural for someone his age.
There were many things that stood out about him like his strange clothes, Japanese style sandals as footwear, limps wrapped in bandages and lastly his somewhat impatient and annoyed expression as he looked at him, but the most strangest part were his eyes.
They were pale.
Not white or gray but pale levender with no visible pupil.
As he looked at him, Lee felt like he was staring through him instead of at him.
'What unique contact lenses,' he thought. 'They almost look real.'
As he looked around, he realised he was in an open field. A faint circular boundary marked thr ground around him, forming a ring.
Dozens of children, boys and girls, around the same age as the pale eyed boy, surrounded the ring, and lee keenly noticed they all wore the same open toed sandals as him too. Not only that, they expressions they gave him were also quite similar. A mix of annoyance and impatience.
A short distance away stood a low building made of wood and plaster. Wide windows. Sliding doors. A long balcony running along the second floor.
'Where am I exactly?' Lee felt increasingly confused about his curreny situation. Last thing he remmebered, he was coming him from work when a speeding truck slammed into him and darkness enveloped his eyes. He felt like he was done for but The next instant, he woke up here.
As his gaze drifted downward, he coincidently caught sigh of his hands and froze.
'wait how did my hands get so small!'
Moreover there were calloused in places that made no sense to him—knuckles, palms, the edges of his fingers.
This only made Lee even more confused.
"Focus on the spar, Lee, or I'll declare it your loss right now."
The voice echoed again, this time with a hint of graveness.
He turned sharply toward the sound and saw a man stood just outside the ring.
Middle-aged. Broad shoulders. Straight-backed. He wore a green flak jacket over dark clothing, a forehead protector strapped securely across his brow. At its center was a metal plate engraved with a leaf symbol.
The man's eyes were sharp, gazing at him with a stern, slightly disappointing expression.
That look alone sent a strange, instinctive knot twisting in his stomach.
Before he could stop himself, words left his mouth.
"S-sorry, sensei."
The sound of his own voice startled him. Not only because but how high it was than it should but also how naturally it came out.
Moreover, how did he suddenly start speaking and understanding japanese?!
The man gave a curt nod, taking it as confirmation.
"alright then" the instructor said flatly. 'Begin!'
His heart skipped.
'Begin what?'
Before he could even react, the pale-eyed boy in front of him moved.
There was no warning. One moment the boy stood three steps away and the next moment, he was right in front of him. The movement was swift, smooth and efficient, like a trained fighter.
Lee's eyes widened.
'He's too Fast—!'
His mind screamed at him to do something. To get out of the way but his body refused to move, frozen in place. At the last moment, his arms somehow moved reflexively in a guard, elbows tucked, forearms raised against his chest.
The boy's palm slipped past his defense with ease, prying it open like paper and Then—
Bang!
The palm strike slammed into his chest!
Bang!
A sharp force detonated behind his ribs, knocking all the air out of his lungs!
He was sent stumbling backward, feet scraping against the dirt before he lost balance entirely and fell flat on his back.
"H—hk—"
His chest felt tight, like someone had pressed a heavy weight against it. He tried to inhale, but only a shallow gasp came out.
'Who the fuck suddenly attacks like that?!' Anger flared in his heart. So what if he's good at fighting. Could he just attack anyone as he wishes.
Lee sweared once he got up, he would show the little shit hoe he would call the police and press charges him for attempted murd—
His thoughts froze all of a sudden as a dull ringing filled his ears.
It grew louder by the second and he felt something else stir in his head.
At first, it was faint.
Then it came all at once.
"Arghh!"
Lee tightly clutched his head, letting a pained cry as a splitting headache hit him. Countless memories that wren't his flooded his head without warning.
Training fields he had run across a thousand times. Academy classrooms. Being told—again and again—that he had no talent for ninjutsu or genjutsu. Watching others advance while he stayed behind. Gritting his teeth and training anyway.
Rock Lee's life.
Not fragments. Not impressions.
A full, lived history settled into place.
The ringing in his ears slowly faded. The pain dulled. His breathing evened out, though his chest still ached where the strike had landed.
He lay there for a second, staring at nothing, thoughts racing far faster than his body could follow.
This isn't a dream.
He knew that much instantly.
The memories were too detailed. Too consistent. He didn't feel like someone borrowing them—he felt like someone who had always had them.
Naruto world… Konoha… Ninja Academy…
He swallowed.
Nine years old. Rock Lee.
The realization didn't excite him. It didn't terrify him either.
What it did bring was a sharp, creeping sense of wrongness.
Something was happening.
It started as a faint sensation deep in his chest. Warm. Restless. Like a current that had suddenly been switched on. It spread outward quickly—through his arms, legs, neck—until his entire body felt like it was buzzing under the skin.
Lee's breath hitched.
What is this?
It didn't hurt. But it felt dangerous.
Not in an immediate way—more like realizing you were bleeding without seeing the wound. A quiet certainty settled in his mind that if he let this continue, something bad would happen.
Very bad.
The feeling intensified, pressure building, as if something inside him was trying to escape. His skin prickled. The air around him felt oddly thin.
Stop it—
Stop—
He didn't know how, but his instincts were screaming at him to contain it. To pull it back in. To keep whatever this was from leaking out.
His hands curled into fists.
Without thinking, he focused inward.
Not on the pain. Not on the memories. On the sensation itself.
Stay… inside.
The pressure resisted, pushing outward harder, like water against a cracked wall. Lee grit his teeth, forcing his attention tighter, wrapping his awareness around the warmth in his body.
It felt clumsy. Inefficient.
But slowly—very slowly—the sensation began to settle.
The buzzing dulled. The pressure eased, though it didn't disappear completely. It lingered under his skin, unstable but no longer rushing outward.
Only then did he realize how hard he was breathing.
"Lee?"
A shadow fell over him.
He barely registered it.
"Lee, what happened?" the instructor asked, crouching beside him now. The irritation from earlier was gone, replaced with clear concern.
Neji had stepped closer as well, standing a short distance away. His brows were furrowed slightly, pale eyes fixed on Lee's face.
Did I hit him too hard? Neji wondered, though he didn't voice it.
Lee tried to respond.
His mouth opened, but his body chose that moment to finally give up.
The tension he'd been holding snapped all at once. The strange energy inside him wavered, then sank deeper, out of his awareness.
His vision blurred.
"Sensei…" he muttered weakly, the word barely audible.
Then the world tilted sideways, and darkness rolled in before he could stop it.
"Lee!"
The instructor caught him before his head hit the ground.
Neji stared at the unconscious boy, unease settling in his chest for reasons he couldn't explain.
Something about that moment felt… off.
But for now, all they could do was carry Rock Lee toward the infirmary—unaware that something fundamental had changed inside him.