"Is it not over yet..."
A cold, emotionless voice echoed in his ears.
'That voice... Japanese? Am I in Japan?'
'When did I learn Japanese?'
'Wait... wasn't I just finishing overtime and heading home?'
Lee's mind reeled in confusion. What was happening?
The air was dim and thick with the musty scent of earth. He tried to open his eyes, but his eyelids felt impossibly heavy, like iron weights pressing down on them.
"Sand Binding Coffin..."
That phrase... he recognized it from somewhere.
Suddenly, tremendous pressure crushed in from all directions. The sickening sound of his own bones cracking filled his ears.
Crack.
The sound was crisp and sharp, like someone snapping dried noodles in half.
Pain lanced through him, jolting his consciousness awake.
Lee finally saw it clearly.
A red-haired boy stood before him, a massive gourd strapped to his back, eyes colder than arctic ice.
Gaara.
And he... he was wearing a green jumpsuit, sporting a bowl cut, with thick eyebrows that could only belong to one person.
Rock Lee.
'Oh, hell.'
Lee's mind went completely blank.
His parents had actually named him Rock Lee in his previous life, and his childhood friends never let him live it down when they watched Naruto together. They'd teased him endlessly about sharing a name with the green-suited taijutsu specialist.
Now he'd actually transmigrated into Rock Lee's body.
And apparently, he'd arrived right in the middle of the Chunin Exams, during the exact moment when Gaara was pulverizing the original Rock Lee into paste.
'This is beyond terrible.'
That single thought dominated his consciousness.
He'd just escaped the nightmare of corporate culture and grueling work schedules, only to end up in the Naruto world?
And on hellish difficulty mode right from the start?
"Sand Waterfall Funeral!"
BOOM!
An indescribable pressure crashed down on him.
His consciousness began slipping away, fading into darkness.
'Well, I've already lived one hard life. And I remember Rock Lee doesn't die in the original story...'
'Whatever happens, happens.'
'Guy-sensei will step in any second now!'
[Ding!]
A sudden notification sound, like something straight out of a video game, exploded through his mind.
[Host detected as critically injured, damage value reaching fatal threshold...]
[Adaptive Body System activated.]
[Adaptive Body System: Sustaining damage or growing stronger through training will increase Vitality Points.]
[Initial Vitality Points Reward: 100 points.]
[Accumulating 1000 Vitality Points will passively negate one fatal attack.]
[Healing injuries consumes 1-100 points depending on severity. Initiate healing?]
His thoughts ground to a halt.
'A system?'
'The essential cheat ability for transmigrators?'
Before he could even think the word "yes," the crushing force threatening to turn his limbs into ground meat suddenly intensified.
[Warning! Critical injuries detected! Life force rapidly depleting!]
[Attacked by Sand Binding Coffin. Vitality Points +500!]
[Additional damage sustained... Total Vitality Points +800!]
[Current Vitality Points: 1400.]
His fading consciousness snapped back, pulled from the edge of oblivion by this cascade of numbers.
'Wait...'
'Getting injured... adds points?'
Lee's brain, sharpened by over a decade of corporate survival, suddenly kicked into high gear.
'The more severe the injury, the more points I get?'
'And I can spend those points to heal myself?'
'This...'
'This is basically a perpetual motion machine for growth!'
The pain hadn't lessened at all, but his entire perspective shifted in an instant.
This wasn't excruciating torture anymore.
This was experience points.
This was hitting his performance metrics.
This was the end-of-year bonus practically falling into his lap!
'A little... just a little harder...'
He didn't know if he'd actually spoken aloud, but that thought resonated through every fiber of his being.
'Bring it on!'
'Please!'
'As long as you don't kill me outright, give me everything you've got!'
'I'm not going to die anyway!'
Though he did silently add, 'But Gaara, I'd appreciate it if you held back just enough. After all, actually dying would waste 1000 Vitality Points.'
At that moment, the killing intent radiating from Gaara's eyes was almost a physical presence in the air.
'This guy with the ridiculous eyebrows... he's still not dead?'
'How is that possible?'
No one had ever survived his Sand Binding Coffin before. No one.
"Since you refuse to die completely..." Gaara's voice crawled out of his throat like something dragged from the depths of hell, "then I'll finish you off myself."
More sand, endless waves of sand, surged toward Lee like sharks drawn to blood in the water.
'Yes!'
Lee celebrated internally.
'Keep it coming!'
'Just hold on a little longer, and I can retire early with full benefits!'
[Warning! Lethal intent detected! Host about to suffer Sand Waterfall Funeral attack!]
[Estimated damage: Beyond survivable threshold. Death imminent!]
BOOM!
The sandstorm erupted skyward like a massive beast opening its jaws to devour everything in its path.
However, just as the storm of sand was about to completely consume him, a green blur appeared between Lee and certain death, moving faster than the human eye could track!
Might Guy! The Blue Beast of Konohagakure, and Rock Lee's beloved teacher.
He stood firm between Lee and the sandstorm, arms spread wide, forcefully blocking the violent assault.
"That's enough!" Guy's voice carried unprecedented seriousness and fury.
The sand scattered in all directions, blasted away by an invisible wall of chakra and determination.
The proctor, Hayate Gekko, materialized in the arena instantly, placing himself between Gaara and the fallen Lee with one hand raised. "The match is over! The winner is Gaara of Sunagakure!"
The entire arena fell into absolute silence.
Every single eye focused on Lee's broken form.
His limbs were twisted at impossible angles, and his green jumpsuit was soaked through with blood, the bright fabric turned dark and sticky.
His consciousness began to blur again, not from dying this time, but because... it hurt.
It hurt so incredibly much.
He'd gotten so caught up in farming points that he'd forgotten about the actual, physical agony of having every bone in his body shattered. Now it crashed over him like a tsunami of pure suffering.
[Current Vitality Points: 1400.]
[Consume 100 points for complete injury restoration?]
'Yes...'
Lee was about to mentally confirm, but then stopped himself abruptly.
'No!'
'If I heal now and just heal myself in front of thousands of witnesses?'
Lee didn't want to become some kind of freak. He just wanted to quietly grow stronger in the background.
If anyone discovered his ability right now, he'd definitely end up captured and experimented on by Orochimaru. That snake bastard would dissect him piece by piece to figure out how he worked.
He had to play dead.
Yes, play dead completely, wait for the medical team to carry him off the field, then secretly heal himself when no one was watching.
Perfect.
His corporate-trained brain worked at lightning speed even in this critical situation.
A medical ninja rushed forward, kneeling beside Lee and placing two fingers against his neck to check for a pulse.
After a tense moment, the medic looked up at Guy with horror written across his face, slowly shaking his head.
"Guy-sensei... his injuries are catastrophic. Even if he survives, he'll never be able to work as a shinobi again!"
Might Guy's entire body trembled violently. His normally passionate, energetic face crumpled as tears began streaming down his cheeks.
He rushed forward, carefully gathering Lee's broken body into his arms, sobbing like a child who'd lost everything.
"Lee...!"
The grief-stricken cry echoed throughout the entire arena.
In the stands, Neji Hyuga and Tenten stood frozen, expressions locked in shock and disbelief.
'Alright, you've played your part perfectly. Now please just carry me away already!'
Lee thought desperately, preparing to let his consciousness "fade" completely.
However.
At that precise moment.
His body, this body that had originally belonged to Rock Lee, started moving on its own!
He couldn't control it!
A deep-rooted obsession, one that didn't belong to the modern office worker but was carved into the very soul of the original Rock Lee, erupted from somewhere beyond conscious thought.
"I... I can still..."
Lee heard himself speak in a hoarse, broken voice that rattled with pain.
"I... want to prove... that even without ninjutsu or genjutsu... I can still become... an outstanding shinobi..."
'NO!'
'Stop this right now!'
'What the hell are you trying to prove with every bone in your body shattered?!'
Lee screamed internally, but the instincts embedded in this body ran like corrupted code in an infinite loop, completely unstoppable!
Under the stunned, horrified gaze of tens of thousands of spectators...
Rock Lee pressed one twisted arm against the ground.
Then the other.
Crack... crack...
The disturbing sound of bones grinding and snapping back into rough alignment echoed through the deathly silent arena with crystal clarity.
He...
With excruciating slowness, yet absolutely unwavering determination...
He began shakily pushing himself upright.
"That guy... is he even human?"
"This is impossible... with those injuries..."
"Lord Hokage, what should we..."
In the Kage viewing box, the Third Hokage's pipe clattered to the floor, forgotten.
Kakashi Hatake's perpetually lazy, half-lidded eye was now wider than anyone had ever seen it.
And Gaara, standing motionless in the center of the arena, watched the green-clad figure rise from a pool of his own blood. For the first time in his life, the killing intent and cruelty drained from his expression.
In their place appeared an emotion he'd never experienced before.
Confusion.
Finally...
Rock Lee stood fully upright.
He swayed dangerously, like a candle flame flickering in a strong wind, threatening to collapse at any moment.
But he raised his head, looking straight ahead with unfocused eyes.
The obsession belonging to the original Rock Lee drove his battered body forward...
He assumed a fighting stance.
'Enough... this is enough...'
'My shift is over... this is my absolute limit...'
'Please... just let me go home...'
Those were the modern Lee's final coherent thoughts.
The next instant, darkness swallowed everything.
He collapsed straight backward, crashing to the ground.
But in that brief moment before unconsciousness claimed him completely, he seemed to see something through his fading vision.
Every single person in the arena had risen to their feet.
For him.
For this supposed failure who should have died.