So, check out this story about the Chunin Exams Arc in “Naruto”, right? To this day, this stop is like a top example of a tournament with a twist like that. They managed to boost the characters, the shinobi world, and also push the story forward, not to mention the fights that are pure adrenaline. Like, several secondary characters shined for the first time here, and one of the most interesting was Rock Lee from Konohagakure.
Lee’s fights with Sasuke and Gaara in the Chunin Exams and the Konoha Smasher Arc were epic! The guy showed that he is the master of taijutsu and left everyone’s jaw dropped. In the Sasuke Recovery Mission, then, he showed a whole new side to his shinobi skills. But, after that time jump in the series, it seems that Lee was kind of left on the sidelines, and that was a bit of a hindrance to the character’s development.
Speaking of Lee, the guy arrived at the Chunin Exams. Everyone thought Sasuke was the prodigy at the time, but then Lee showed up and almost passed the car over Sasuke without breaking a sweat. And let’s not even talk about his fight against Gaara, who was the toughest genin in Sunagakure. When Lee took the weights off his ankles, man! He was like a hurricane, showing that his Strong Fist taijutsu was out of this world.
This fight against Gaara was like the highlight of the Chunin Exams. He showed how much of a beast Lee was and gave a blow to Gaara’s aura of invincibility. Lee took a lot of risks, but thanks to Tsunade, he recovered from serious surgery and came back with a bang.
And then there’s the drunk fist ride, right? After recovering from the fight with Gaara, Lee accidentally fell into trouble and became a Drunken Fist-style fighting machine. He scared Kimimaro with this technique, and almost turned the tide. Lee was a genius in that style too.
But, like, then came the Fourth Shinobi World War, and Lee, even though he was doing well in the Sixth Gate and so on, was kind of left aside. He had his moments, like when he split Madara Uchiha in half, but that was it. The focus was all on Naruto, Sasuke and the Hokages. It’s understandable, since the story had to follow its path, but it was a shame to see Lee and the people of Konoha being left behind.
In the end, Lee had everything to be one of the greats, but the story ended up not giving him as much space to shine as we wanted. With so much going on – battles, revelations, development of the world – Kishimoto ended up not being able to give Lee more of the spotlight, and that was kind of sad, right? But do what? The series is huge and not everyone can always have their star moment.
