After lying in bed for another two or three days, Lee felt like he was about to rot away from the inside out.
Although his bones still ached slightly, the restless energy that had been drilled into him during his previous life as an overworked corporate drone made sitting still feel like torture. Every moment of inactivity gnawed at him like an itch he couldn't scratch.
'No, I can't just lie here anymore.'
'If I stay in this bed any longer, all my retirement plans will be completely worthless.'
He glanced toward the window. Complete darkness had fallen outside, and the corridor beyond his door was silent except for the occasional soft footsteps of night shift nurses making their rounds.
'Perfect timing.'
Lee flipped himself out of bed in one smooth motion.
"Damn, that still hurts a bit."
He grimaced and climbed to his feet slowly, moving with the stiff, careful gait of an elderly man testing his balance.
He dropped down and attempted two experimental push-ups.
[Minor muscle tear detected. Vitality Points +0.1]
[Joint wear detected. Vitality Points +0.05]
The numbers that appeared in his mind's eye were pathetically small.
Lee stopped mid-movement and frowned deeply.
'Something's not right here.'
'At this rate, when will I ever accumulate enough points to actually become unkillable?'
He'd earned 1400 Vitality Points from nearly dying at Gaara's hands during the Chunin Exams. That brutal experience had been his system's initialization reward plus combat damage.
But these calculations showed the harsh reality. Standard training efficiency was abysmal.
Regular exercise wasn't going to cut it anymore if he wanted to meet his growth targets.
To get high returns, he needed to take high risks.
'Go big or go home,' Lee thought, echoing the mentality that had kept him grinding through impossible corporate deadlines in his past life. His eyes gradually took on a slightly manic gleam.
He looked around the quiet hospital room, his gaze finally settling on his left arm, which was still wrapped in a thick medical cast.
'Maybe...'
Just as he'd made up his mind to do something drastic, the door to his ward suddenly creaked open without warning.
A young nurse entered carrying a small tray of medicine and supplies.
"Lee? Lee-kun? Why are you out of bed? You need to get back in immediately! Your injuries are still extremely serious!"
The nurse's eyes went wide with alarm the instant she spotted him standing upright. She rushed toward him, medical tray clutched in both hands.
Lee's heart jumped into his throat.
'Oh hell. I've been caught.'
His brain immediately kicked into overdrive, processing scenarios at lightning speed.
'I absolutely cannot let her discover that I've almost completely recovered.'
'The medical shinobi of Konohagakure aren't people you mess around with. If they detect anything unusual about my healing rate, my "miraculous recovery" case might actually get me dissected and studied like some kind of laboratory specimen.'
'I have to sell this performance perfectly!'
Just as the nurse reached out to support his supposedly injured arm, Lee's eyes flashed with determination. With every ounce of strength he could muster, he deliberately slammed his cast-covered arm straight into the metal bed frame beside him.
CRACK!
A crisp, bone-chilling snapping sound rang out through the quiet room.
"AAHHH!"
Lee let out an absolutely agonized scream and collapsed to the floor in a heap. His entire body convulsed involuntarily as cold sweat the size of water droplets instantly beaded across his forehead.
'That hurt like absolute hell!'
The pain was genuine. Completely, utterly genuine. There was no need to fake his reaction because breaking bones really did hurt that much, system or no system.
"Lee! Lee-kun!" The nurse panicked completely, dropping her medicine tray with a loud clatter. Glass vials rolled across the floor. "Stay still! Don't move at all! I'm going to get Guy-sensei right away!"
She scrambled out of the room at a dead run, leaving the door swinging open behind her.
Lee lay sprawled on the cold hospital floor, groaning in genuine pain, while simultaneously and calmly calculating his next moves with the detached efficiency of someone planning a business presentation.
'What exactly should I say when Guy-sensei arrives?'
'This lie needs to be airtight. Completely believable. No holes whatsoever.'
Not long after, a series of hurried, heavy footsteps thundered down the corridor, accompanied by Might Guy's unmistakable booming voice echoing off the walls.
"LEE! My precious student! What happened?!"
The door burst open so hard it slammed against the wall. Might Guy rushed into the room like a green tornado. The instant he saw Lee lying motionless on the floor, apparently on death's doorstep once again, tears immediately began streaming down his face.
"Oh, Lee! Your beautiful flames of youth! This is the teacher's fault! I never should have left you alone in this hospital room unsupervised!"
He dropped to his knees and gathered Lee into a crushing embrace so tight that it nearly dislocated Lee's freshly broken bones all over again.
"Cough... cough... Guy-sensei..." Lee forced out the weakest, most vulnerable expression he could manage while looking genuinely touched by his teacher's concern. "I... I'm okay..."
"You call this okay?! Your injury has gotten worse!" Guy examined the damaged arm with visible anguish written across his features. "Why did you get out of bed in the first place?! Were you trying to train in secret? I specifically told you that rest is the absolute most important thing right now!"
Looking at Guy-sensei's genuinely emotional, tear-streaked face, Lee felt a small pang of guilt deep in his chest.
'Teacher, I'm really sorry about this.'
He took a deep, steadying breath and composed his expression carefully. When he spoke, his tone carried just the right mixture of confusion, embarrassment, and innocent honesty.
"Guy-sensei... I... I think something strange is happening to me."
"Something strange? Tell me everything immediately!" Guy leaned in closer, his voice filled with urgent concern.
"It's... it's been happening ever since that fight with Gaara..." Lee chose each word with extreme care, making himself sound like a confused, naive kid who didn't understand what was happening to his own body. "I've been feeling... something inside me... like something fundamental was changed. Unlocked, maybe."
"Unlocked?" Guy's eyebrows rose.
"Yes... it's like..." Lee continued spinning his carefully constructed story with a completely straight face, "like my chakra pathways were forcibly opened during that fight. Restructured somehow. I can feel that my recovery ability has become incredibly accelerated compared to normal. These past few days lying in bed, I've been able to sense my bones literally growing back together and healing themselves."
He paused for dramatic effect, then made his eyes as sincere and vulnerable as humanly possible.
"So tonight, I thought I'd try getting up to test it... but I guess... I was still pushing too hard too soon..."
Might Guy sat frozen in place, staring at his student in absolute shock. For several long moments, he was completely speechless.
'Chakra pathways forcibly opened?'
'Has this kid been reading too many theoretical scrolls in his spare time?'
But even as skeptical thoughts crossed his mind, Guy couldn't deny what he'd witnessed with his own eyes over the past few days.
Lee's injuries had been catastrophic. Absolutely devastating. The medical team had privately told Guy that Lee would be lucky to walk normally again, let alone continue as a shinobi.
Yet here he was, already moving around and showing signs of recovery that should have taken months, if not years.
'Could it be...?'
'Could Lee actually be one of those incredibly rare cases where a life-threatening battle awakens some kind of dormant potential?'
Seeing Guy-sensei's expression shift from shock to deep contemplation, Lee knew his fish had taken the bait completely.
He quickly added the finishing touch to seal the deal.
"Guy-sensei!" He reached out and gripped his teacher's arm with his good hand, looking up at him with utterly genuine desperation. "I'm only telling you about this! Please... please promise me you won't tell anyone else!"
"Why not?" Guy asked, genuinely confused. "If you have this kind of gift—"
"Because I'm terrified," Lee interrupted, allowing real fear to color his voice. It wasn't hard. The fear of being experimented on was completely genuine. "I'm afraid of being treated like some kind of freak. Like a monster. Captured and studied. Cut open to see what makes me different. I... I just want to be a normal shinobi. I want to grow stronger through honest hard work and protect the people I care about. I don't want to be seen as something abnormal. Something dangerous."
The words were a calculated mixture of truth and deception.
The fear of being studied was absolutely real. That part required no acting whatsoever.
But the actual reason behind that fear, the existence of his system, remained his deepest secret.
To Might Guy, however, those words carried an entirely different meaning.
His beloved student, this pure-hearted and unbelievably resilient young man, had apparently received an incredible gift from the heavens. And instead of showing off or bragging about his newfound abilities, his first instinct was to hide them because he feared causing problems for others!
'What noble character! What pure intentions!'
"Oh, LEE!"
Guy's passion ignited like a wildfire. He grabbed both of Lee's hands tightly, tears now flowing freely down his cheeks, his voice trembling with overwhelming emotion.
"I understand! I understand completely! Don't worry about a single thing! This will remain the highest level secret between us, shared only by teacher and student!"
He shot to his feet, his signature brilliant white teeth practically glowing under the harsh hospital lighting.
"This must be heaven's reward for your tireless dedication and effort! A direct response from the very spirit of youth itself! Starting tomorrow, we'll develop a completely new training regimen specifically designed for your unique condition. We'll push the boundaries of what's possible while keeping your secret absolutely safe!"
Watching Guy-sensei practically vibrate with renewed fighting spirit as he began mentally planning future training schedules, Lee carefully lowered himself back onto his hospital bed and released a long, quiet sigh of relief.
'Done. The first and most crucial step is complete.'
His cover story was established. His teacher was completely convinced.
Now came the real work: figuring out how to use this "unique condition" excuse to openly and legitimately engage in the kind of extreme, boundary-pushing training that would have seemed insane without proper justification.
'Retirement life, here I come!'