Rock Lee

Rock Lee (ロック・リー, Rokku Rī) is a major supporting character of the series. He is a chūnin-level shinobi of Konohagakure and a member of Team Guy.

Background
During his time as a student in the Academy, Lee proved to have no talent for ninjutsu and genjutsu. As he was mocked by his peers because of this, Lee persevered, focusing on taijutsu.

When Lee eventually graduated he was added to Team Guy along with Neji Hyūga and Tenten. During the team's first meeting, Lee vowed to become a powerful ninja without using ninjutsu or genjutsu. Neji laughed at him, but their sensei, Might Guy, took a special interest in Lee. He encouraged Lee to keep at it and, in time, began teaching him powerful forms of taijutsu.

Personality
Lee is extremely energetic, single-minded, and over-enthusiastic. He is characterised as being the epitome of a "nice guy", having assumed many of Guy's personality quirks. One such trait is his apparent lack of common sense, believing at times that he can get what he wants by not wanting it. At other times, he takes copious notes, but forgets that he cannot check them during a fight. He has a keen sense of honour, and respects his opponents, refusing to hold grudges against those who have defeated him, and returning favours to those that have helped him. This was shown by his befriending of Gaara, forgiving him for crushing his arm and leg — injuries that nearly ended his career as a shinobi. Lee feels others should show the same respect towards their opponents, and is disgusted whenever someone is unnecessarily cruel to their enemies.

Lee is known for speaking respectfully to others, being very proper in both English and Japanese language versions, and never using contractions or swearwords. He also uses formal Japanese, applying proper titles ("-san", "-kun", etc.) to anyone he meets. However, Lee refers to his team-mates Neji Hyūga and Tenten just by their given names, implying that he is close enough to them to use such an informal way to speak to them. His relationship with Guy has also caused him to acquire many of Guy's traits; in addition to his personality, his dedication to his promises, as well as his belief that one cannot dislike food, are characteristics of Guy. Lee also carries this small book and pencil to recall the various bits of information Guy has given him over time.

Lee's attempts to prove and better himself are recurring themes for his actions throughout the series. He is generally optimistic, and believes that, with hard work and passion, he can surpass a natural genius, but can be prone to depression when faced with setbacks. His drive to succeed was initially most evident with his rivalry with Neji, having learned from Guy that having a rival will provide incentive to succeed. Neji, a "genius" ninja, found Lee's efforts of bettering himself to be in vain, and believed that Lee would be a "failure" for the rest of his life.

As such, Lee resolved to prove Neji wrong, and confronted another "genius", Sasuke Uchiha, in an attempt to test his worth. While Lee maintained the desire to defeat Neji in a fight throughout the Chūnin Exam Arc, after Neji's eventual defeat by Naruto Uzumaki, another so-called "failure", Lee became less interested in this goal. Neji's rejection of his previous belief in fate also contributed to this, as he now respects Lee, believing that he will surpass the gifted with enough work.

Shortly after his introduction to Team 7, Lee revealed that he liked Sakura Haruno, asking her to be his girlfriend and vowing to protect her immediately after they met. While she did not seem to share these feelings for him, and considered him weird, Lee maintained these feelings, and went out of his way to help her throughout the Chūnin Exams. Sakura became more appreciative after this, and punches Naruto whenever he insults Lee.

Despite this, Sakura does not seem to return any romantic feelings for Lee, as she refers to him with the more formal "Lee-san", as opposed to "Lee-kun". After the Exams' conclusion, Lee's interest in Sakura went largely unaddressed in the manga. It is occasionally referenced in the anime, such as when Naruto fought Lee in the Lee's Dōjō Arc; Naruto transformed into Sakura, causing Lee to forget about the fight long enough for Naruto to attack him.

Appearance
Lee possesses very thick eyebrows (leading to the nickname "Centipede Brows" (ゲジマユ, Gejimayu; English TV "Bushy Brows") by Naruto) and large, rounded black eyes with prominent lower eyelashes. During his academy days, Lee's hair was much longer and fastened in a braid that, along with his style of dress, gave him a more traditional Chinese appearance. When first joining Team Guy Lee's appearance changed drastically. He had shorter hair than before that curved upwards in the back. He still maintained the Chinese appearance, since he wore a robe and a martial arts belt around his waist. After joining Might Guy's team, his appearance changed considerably to emulate his idol and sensei.

His hair is now cut and styled into a bowl-cut style like Guy, and he also began wearing the same attire, consisting of a green jumpsuit, orange leg warmers, and a red forehead protector worn as a belt. The only difference in his attire were the bandages he regularly wears around his hands and wrists, which also cover a set of stitches on his left hand, a trait that was due to his rigorous taijutsu training. In Guy's youth however, it is revealed that he also wore bandages.

During Part II, his appearance has changed the least out of his friends. The most noticeable changes are that he has grown considerably taller, and wears a flak jacket, as a chūnin, further emulating his sensei, however instead of wearing it open, Lee's is zipped up.

Abilites
Guy's leadership has influenced Lee's training habits, which, coupled with his hard-working resolve, has allowed Lee to improve rapidly. For example, when making a promise, Lee assigns himself arduous tasks to complete in the event that he doesn't live up to his expectations. When this promise is broken, usually just barely, he trains to prevent it from happening again.

Lee has trained so extensively he can run and even fight while unconscious, using nothing but pure muscle memory. A flashback during the Curry of Life Arc, in Part I, highlighted that Lee can run in his sleep, due to training from Guy. As a properly-trained ninja, Lee is more aware of his surrounding through his senses than a regular person would be. This is highlighted in the 'Three-Tails' arc, when he was blinded by Kigiri's Destroying Smell Smoke Prison. Lee called on his training from Might Guy to be able to home in on Kihō through his "spirit sensor" — which he had developed through unceasing diligence and determination.

In the anime, it also seems that Lee is proficient with melee weapons. He tried to attack Kisame with a pair of tonfa, but he was stopped before he could show his abilities.

Though Rock Lee is a ninja unable to use ninjutsu, this doesn't mean he is unable to mould and use chakra, as shown when using his tree and water walking skills. However, he is unable to use it externally as ninjutsu or genjutsu, and instead uses it internally to augment his taijutsu.

Taijutsu
Lee has no talent for ninjutsu or genjutsu. Because this would ordinarily make life as a ninja impossible, Lee's dream is to become a famous ninja who uses only taijutsu. Taking a liking to Lee and his resolve, Might Guy has specially trained him to reach this goal, teaching him a number of forbidden techniques in the process. The most basic of these is his Strong Fist style of combat, a martial art style focusing on external damage. Through this gruelling training, Lee has become a taijutsu master. His prowess surpasses those of more experienced ninja, and it is only in unique circumstances that his taijutsu is not enough to defeat an opponent.

In the anime, he was able to fight against Gari, avoiding each and every one of his Explosion Release: Landmine Fists and defeating him with a well placed kick to the head. In the anime, with Guy's help, he could hold off the Nine-Tailed Naruto Clone with just taijutsu alone despite it being in a "Version 2" state.

Since Guy began training him, Lee has worn extremely heavy weights on his ankles that appear deceptively light, increasing his strength at the cost of inhibiting his speed to levels that his peers still consider quite fast. Upon removing the weights, Lee's speed vastly increases, making it almost impossible to see his movements with the unaided eye. When he removed his ankle weights during his fight with Gaara, they enabled him to be the first person to ever bypass his defences, and strike him. Lee's speed is so great in Part II that he could intercept a charge from Haku, who is known for his speed both in and out of his Demonic Mirroring Ice Crystals.

Lee also possesses immense physical strength, as he was actually capable of driving his hand into the earth to rip up a huge section of a giant tree's root. During the Fourth Shinobi World War, after being enhanced by Kurama's chakra, he was able to completely bisect Madara Uchiha with a single kick.

Eight Gates
Through Guy's teachings, Lee has learned how to open at least the first five of eight chakra gates, a feat that is difficult for even the most talented ninja, and as such has come to even be regarded as a genius by the like of Kakashi Hatake who noted that this was no mere feat of hard work. Because of the danger to his body that the gates' power presents, Lee is only permitted to open them in certain circumstances such as life-or-death situations, protecting someone dear, or defending his way of the ninja. Most humans can only access less than 20% of their muscle potential but the eight gates uses chakra to "force" the muscles to work at much more power than they normally do, allowing the user to run at phenomenal speeds, pick up enormous weights, and much more at the expense of the muscles themselves. Near 50%, the muscles start to wear down and tear. Much more than that, approaching 100%, the muscles begin to break down and disintegrate. Once the Eighth Gate has been opened, they are practically unstoppable, but the user dies in the process. Lee has also learned or developed a number of taijutsu that take advantage of the extreme power and speed he gains from opening chakra gates. After the time-skip, Lee can now open the chakra gates instantly, even showing a faster recovery rate from using them without suffering any of the damaging after-effects, but he still shows noticeable exhaustion.[19 ] [20 ] In the anime, when both him and Guy used the Fifth Gate together, they were able to overwhelm the Nine-Tailed Naruto Clone despite it being in "Version 2", forcing it to get more of Kurama's chakra.

Drunken Fist
Lee has a very low tolerance for alcohol, which gave him a natural predisposition for the Drunken Fist style. When he drinks as little as one drop of alcohol, he becomes an unpredictable and near unstoppable force of destruction and chaos. Guy explained that, after Lee accidentally drank a small amount of sake, he proceeded to demolish the bar they were in, and it took the combined efforts of Guy and Neji to hold him down without harming him.

During Lee's fight with Kimimaro in Part I, Lee accidentally drank sake instead of his medicine, and slipped into Drunken Fist style. Lee's usage of this style gives him considerably greater speed and dexterity, allowing Lee to strike and effectively dodge from various positions. This style caused Kimimaro, one of Orochimaru's strongest subordinates, to be pressured and ultimately overwhelmed, forcing the Oto ninja to activate the first stage of his cursed seal. Kimimaro noted that Lee's attack patterns with Drunken Fist was "too angular".

The problem with Lee's Drunk Fist state is his actions while drunk are usually misguided attempts to impress Guy, regardless of whether or not Guy is around. He drunkenly attacks any friend or foe that is near him.

Chunin exam arc
Having not been allowed to participate the year before, Team Guy took part in the Chūnin Exams along with the Rookie Nine. They initially tried to avoid attention by acting weak, but Lee accidentally let slip his true strength by interfering with a fight between Sasuke Uchiha and Kotetsu Hagane. He also fell in love with Sakura Haruno. Soon afterwards, he confronted Sasuke, challenging him to a fight to see how he fared against the Sharingan, but not before knocking out Naruto Uzumaki, who tried to fight with Lee himself. Guy interrupted Lee and Sasuke's fight, however, when Lee tried to use the Front Lotus, and Lee was forced to do laps around the practice range before he could proceed onto the first phase of the exams. With Tenten's help, he gained the answers for the written portion, and proceeded to the second round.

After spending their first few days in the Forest of Death gathering supplies, Team Guy split up in search of other teams. Lee came across Sakura being attacked by Team Dosu, and went to her aid. He used his Front Lotus on Dosu Kinuta, but he survived the attack because of Zaku Abumi using his Decapitating Air Wave in the ground, and Lee was left unable to defend himself from a counterattack from Dosu. Neji and Tenten soon arrived to help, but didn't have to because Sasuke woke up, and once he recovered they moved onto the preliminaries.

In the preliminaries, Lee was matched against Gaara. When his standard attacks proved unable to bypass Gaara's defences, he removed his ankle weights to increase his speed and managed to land a couple of hits on Gaara. Then, he attempted the Forward Lotus, but Gaara was able to escape at the last minute revealing a sand clone instead. His options running out if he was to win and prove himself, Guy allowed him to use the Reverse Lotus. Gaara barely survived by turning his gourd to sand to cushion him, and the techniques took a massive toll on Lee's body. Gaara added to Lee's injury by crushing his left arm and leg. Though Guy intervened to stop Gaara from killing him, Lee got to his feet to continue the battle, despite being completely unconscious.

Because of his injuries, medics predicted, that even if Lee recovered, his injuries would prevent him from ever being able to be a shinobi again. He nevertheless tried to train while he was in the hospital, something that only worsened his condition. When he was asleep, Gaara came to his room and tried to kill him, but he was stopped by Naruto and Shikamaru Nara and later by Guy. To try and cheer Lee up, Guy took him to watch the final round matches, but they were surprised when they arrived to find out that Neji had been defeated by Naruto. Envious of Naruto, Lee then watched Gaara's fight with Sasuke, and marvelled at how quickly he had learned to emulate Lee's speed. Before the fight could finish, however, the invasion of Konoha began, and Lee was knocked unconscious.

Invasion of Konoha arc
Lee can be seen at the Third Hokage's funeral alongside the other villagers, mourning his death.

Sasuke Retrieval arc
Over the coming weeks, Guy tried a number of his own remedies to heal Lee, though none of his efforts worked. It was not until news of Tsunade becoming Hokage reached them that they found hope. But, when she examined Lee, she informed him of the dire situation: his broken bones and torn muscles have healed, but fragments of bone had lodged in his spinal column, and removing them would involve an extensive operation that only she was capable of. When Tsunade offered him an operation that carried a fifty percent chance of returning him to his former state, or dying in the process, Lee was hesitant to accept the operation. Though Lee was worried he would die in the operation, thanks to Guy's influence, he accepted the surgery. Upon overhearing Naruto, Chōji Akimichi, Kiba Inuzuka, and Shikamaru Nara talking about the mission to bring Sasuke back to Konoha, Lee suggested that Neji go with them. Lee was disappointed that he couldn't go with them, still needing to go through his surgery that was scheduled for later that day[21 ] (In the anime, Lee was recovering after having his surgery done the day before[22 ] ). In the end, Lee successfully survived the operation.

Once Lee was well enough to move, he left the hospital to follow them and provide assistance. He caught up with Naruto, who was in the middle of a battle with Kimimaro, and told him to go after Sasuke while he dealt with Kimimaro. At first, it seemed Kimimaro overmatched him, but after Lee drank some sake that he had mistaken for his medicine, he began to outclass Kimimaro. Though Lee's anticipated moves were unpredictable to Kimimaro, he revealed his Kekkei Genkai, Shikotsumyaku, which, combined with Lee sobering up, easily took over the battle. Before his attack landed on Lee, Gaara arrived just in time to save him. Even though Lee insisted to fight side-by-side with him, he knew he was only getting in Gaara's way.

For the rest of the battle, Lee watches and is amazed by Gaara's new abilities. Even though Gaara's new techniques completely buried Kimimaro, Kimimaro counters by turning the battlefield into a forest of bones, which Lee and Gaara escaped by hanging onto a pair of small clouds made out of sand. Kimimaro then emerged from one of the bones, preparing to kill the two at point blank range. They were saved, however, as Kimimaro finally succumbed to his disease and died. After the battle, Lee and Gaara reflect upon Kimimaro's purpose, then the two return to Konoha.

Pre Shippuuden filler arc
Lee revealed that he once ran a marathon with Guy near the village of Katabami Kinzan shortly after being assigned to his team, and when he collapsed from exhaustion near the Curry of Life shop, the owner, Sanshō, and her son Karashi fed him curry and saved his life. Lee's dedication caused Karashi to become enthusiastic, and he later left. A year later, when he came to the village with his team-mates and Naruto to defeat the Kurosuki family, he found that Karashi had joined, and was upset that Karashi had sought strength in this way. He allowed Karashi to seek redemption, but Karashi used this opportunity to lure Lee's group into a trap after their first battle with Raiga. The trap failed due to Naruto's use of shadow clones, and while the villagers were willing to seek vengeance on Karashi, Lee stepped in, promising to take responsibility for Karashi's actions. Karashi used the opportunity to take Ranmaru to revive Raiga. Lee went to fight Raiga with Naruto and Neji, and was knocked out but brought back to consciousness with the Curry of Life. The curry, however, accidentally contained wine, and Lee was intoxicated and performed the Drunken Fist. He fought Raiga drunkenly, but was defeated, and Naruto finished Raiga off. Later, when the group went back to the Curry of Life shop, they found out that Karashi had made a new curry that looked so bad that even Naruto didn't want to eat it. Lee, however, couldn't wait to try it, so the rest of the group had to literally drag him back to Konoha while he cried for the curry.

The Academy students were divided into teams of three and were assigned to a genin who would lead them on a mission against the other teams. Lee was assigned to lead a team of three Academy students: Chen, Samo and En. His time with them was not covered much except that he was doing better than Naruto. After fending off some 'bandits', one of Lee's charges addressed Lee as "Lee-sensei" out of awe, and, overjoyed, Lee went off into one of his declarations into the sunset whilst his students tried to tell him that he was going the wrong way.

Guy and Lee left the village on a mission, and two spies tried to imitate them. Tsunade immediately saw through their disguise, and gave them various difficult, disgusting, or humiliating missions in order to keep them busy and prevent them from learning anything. They encountered the real Lee and Guy on the way out of the village and tried to attack, but were sent flying back to Konohagakure.

Lee accompanied Neji, Naruto, and Tenten on the mission to Hoshigakure, playing a lesser role than in previous arcs. He attempted to follow two of Akahoshi's men while hiding under a barrel, as Tenten suggested, but was discovered almost instantly. While trying to infiltrate Akahoshi's mansion, he pretended to use a jutsu known as "Wall-Removing Technique", but, in actuality, it involved him moving at high speed to open a door from the other side. He was wounded during the final battle with Akahoshi, leaving Naruto to fight him alone.

Lee, seeing that he had little time to train with other people due to the many missions that must be done, sought a new means of training. He saw a man challenging a dōjō, ready to take the sign if he won, and ready to join if he lost, and believed that a dōjō would bring many strong opponents. When Naruto stumbled upon the dōjō, Lee asked that he fight, but Naruto hastily left, late for reporting back to Tsunade.

Guy, after hearing about the dōjō from Naruto, decides to disguise himself in order to fight Lee. However, he was given a mission at the last second, and an impostor replaced him. Lee fought the impostor and easily defeated him, but Naruto believed that the impostor was Guy, and that he was not fighting at full strength in order to avoid revealing himself. Naruto fought Lee while the impostor transformed into Lee, but met the real Guy while trying to leave, and was easily defeated by him.

Lee's condition worsened, and Tsunade became concerned about him injuring himself again. She removed him from missions, but allowed him to keep training after he convinced her to do so. Around this time, Guy arrived with a new student, who easily defeated Lee and injured his ankle. While Lee was recovering, Guy took the new student with him on a mission, causing Lee to believe that he had abandoned him. It was then revealed that the new student was an impostor, and that he planned on seeking vengeance against Guy. Lee headed to Guy's location, but was trapped in a castle made out of sparring posts. He and Lee were tricked into fighting each other by seeing the other as a sparring dummy, but they saw through the technique and opened their chakra gates to destroy the dummies without harming the actual person, freeing themselves and destroying the castle.

Lee, despite having few special abilities, made some noteworthy contributions to the investigation. While he initially encouraged the academy students to keep practising throwing kunai, once he realised that hitting the bull's eye would cause a chain reaction that would detonate explosives around Konoha, he caught a kunai in midair just before it hit the target, despite being far away from it. He defeated Gennō with his taijutsu during the final confrontation.

Naruto accompanied Sakura and Lee to escort Gantetsu. When the ship was sliced in half by a metal wire, Lee ended up with Sakura, and found the orphans Gantetsu had cared for. During the raid on the hideout, he fought the Shinobazu members outside.

Lee and Naruto helped Gaara fight and defeat an opponent who could absorb his enemies' chakra with his armour. After the mission, he sparred with Tenten, who was upset over being the only member of the Konoha 11 left out of the mission despite having a mission at the time, and noted that, in order to be able to face Naruto when he returned, they too must become stronger.

Kazekage Rescue arc
Team Kakashi was sent on a mission to rescue Gaara from Akatsuki. When Tsunade began to worry that they might have problems, she sent Team Guy as back-up. On their way to a rendezvous point, they were attacked by Kisame Hoshigaki. Kisame was quite angered that Guy didn't remember him from their fight in Part I. Kisame soon captured Lee, Neji, and Tenten, but by opening the sixth gate, Guy ended the fight quickly, and they moved on.

Once Kakashi's team arrived after them, the two squads found out that there was a barrier on the Akatsuki headquarters, something Team Guy volunteered to take down. They split up and removed seals spread out across the area, bringing down the barrier but triggering a trap: they were attacked by clones of themselves. When they were about to be defeated, Lee figured out how to beat the clones — by being stronger than when they met them. With that, Lee uses a new technique to defeat his clone. Later on Lee and the rest of his team-mates would confront Deidara who had been hiding and spying on Team Kakashi. With Deidara ultimately fleeing the scene and leaving an explosive clone behind, they are saved by Kakashi who warps the explosion away. Once Gaara was later revived, they headed back to Sunagakure and then later to Konoha. As they left, Guy had to carry Kakashi who had been incapacitated from using the Mangekō Sharingan too much. Seeing this as a form of training, Lee told Neji to get on his back so that they might race back to Konoha, but was forcefully rejected.

Sasuke & Sai arc
Lee and the rest of Team Guy were only seen in the very beginning of this arc in the anime, as they returned from Suna. Lee, thinking he had come in second place in his and Guy's race from Suna to Konoha, was shocked when Guy informed him that since he was carrying Kakashi on his back as well, Lee had only come in third. Lee was seen carrying everyone's packs when they returned to Konoha. After escorting Kakashi to the hospital, Team Guy went to rest.

Twelve guardians arc
Asuma's team returns from its mission. Team Kakashi returns to Konoha as well, with Sora replacing Sai on the team. Naruto tries to show Sora around Konoha but Sora goes his own way. Sora's insults precipitate a brawl with Kiba and Chōji, with Naruto and Rock Lee joining in. Shikamaru and Asuma stop the fight. Later Asuma tells Sora he knew Sora's father, who is revealed as one of the Guardians involved in the coup attempt. He also shows Sora his chakra blade attack. Furido and the other body snatchers begin their attack on the Kohaku clan.

Furido releases Sora's seal, and tells him the truth: Sora is a pseudo-jinchūriki. The chakra that had leaked from the Nine-Tailed Fox when it attacked Konoha 15 and a half years ago was harvested and implanted into Sora. Just then, Asuma arrives at the scene with Naruto. Asuma recognises Furido and it is revealed that he is Kazuma, Sora's father. Yamato, Sakura, Kiba, Lee, Ino, Chōji and Shikamaru also turn up. Enraged, Sora wants to destroy everything, and turns into the three-tailed form of the demon fox. However, Yamato is unable to restrain him, because he does not have the First's necklace on him.

The chakra of the Nine-Tails rages out of control within Sora, preventing Naruto and the others from subduing him. Asuma and Kazuma resume their old battle. Naruto is repeatedly knocked down in his attempts to restrain Sora, and the chakra seeps into him and transforms him as well. Yamato is unable to suppress the Nine-Tails' chakra in both jinchūriki, being prevented by an unknown outside force. Sora's fourth tail emerges, causing the Nine-Tails' cloak to envelop his body. He temporarily gains his own consciousness when he witnesses Naruto stab himself in the leg and successfully prevent the original Nine-Tails' cloak from emerging.

The struggle between Naruto and Sora continues. Asuma and Kazuma fight. Sai arrives, having snuck out of hospital, and binds Kazuma with an ink snake. Kazuma breaks out of Sai's technique and charges Asuma, but is killed. Naruto eventually reaches Sora, who manages to release the Nine-Tails' chakra. However the Nine-Tails' chakra that is released begins to become a miniature Nine-Tails. This provokes Tsunade to head out to engage the beast. It soon became clear that the miniature Nine-Tails could not form without a human host so it dissipated. Sora then leaves the village to travel the world. Asuma and Shikamaru play shogi and discuss who the king of Konoha is.

Hidan & Kakuzu arc
In the anime, he is seen at Asuma's funeral, mourning his loss.

Three Tails arc
Tsunade finds the location of Orochimaru's hideout and sent Kakashi along with Team Kurenai to see it. They get into a fight with Guren and Shino sends back one of his crystallised bugs. Then Tsunade sends Yamato, Sai, and Sakura to help them along with Naruto who meets them along the way. Team Kakashi and Kurenai follow Guren and discover that the thing they were after was the Three-Tails. Shizune, Ino, Tenten and Lee are assembled to help with the hunt for the Three-Tails. They all meet up and split into to groups to seal the tailed beast in its own dimension and get Yūkimaru. The Sealing group, Team Three is Shizune, Hinata, Sakura, and Ino. The Guarding group, Team Two is Yamato, Tenten, Kiba, and Lee, while Team One the Fighting group is Naruto, Kakashi, Sai, and Shino.

Team Three tried to use Four-Corner Sealing Barrier to permanently trap the beast in its own dimension. Just as the sealing began to work, the Konoha ninja were interrupted by Guren, which prompted the beast to attack them all. Yūkimaru was able to calm the beast down temporarily, but, after he became tired, the Three-Tails turned its attention to him. Guren and Naruto Uzumaki came to his defence, but were swallowed in the process. With the help of their allies on the outside, they were able to escape, and the Konoha ninja tried once more to seal the beast

Just when the sealing was almost complete, Yūkimaru, angered by the apparent death of Guren, empowered the beast to break free of its restraints. The Three-Tails went on a rampage, attacking everyone nearby and crushing Nurari, Kigiri, and Kihō. Its attempts to attack Yūkimaru, however, had no effect. It was only through the use of the Wind Release: Toad Oil Flame Bullet that the beast was driven away. The sealing attempt was left to ANBU members, and the remaining Konoha ninja returned home.

Invasion of Pain arc
During Pain's invasion of Konoha, Team Guy was away on a mission. On their way returning to the village, they noticed a large number of birds flying from the direction of the village and rushed to see what the issue was. When they arrived to see the village in ruins they also spotted a severely wounded Hinata Hyūga, and got her medical attention. Later, Lee, alongside the other villagers, celebrated Naruto's victory over Pain.

Konoha History arc
In the ruins of Konoha, Mr. Ostrich decides to tell the story of his "rivalry" with Naruto to his young and how Naruto would interfere with his freedom. Tsunade assigns Naruto to capture Mr. Ostrich who escaped again into Training Ground Zero. Unlike last time, Mr. Ostrich trained himself into becoming a nindachō. Tsunade has Kotetsu Hagane captain of the team of Naruto, Shino and Lee. Izumo Kamizuki learns of Kotetsu's mission and whines about not being with Kotetsu which annoys Tsunade. Kotetsu has Shino locate Mr. Ostrich with his kikaichū and the team manages to find him who laughs at Naruto. Shino has Naruto to try and distract him while he would surprise him with his bugs. Naruto makes an insult about Mr. Ostrich's father but makes a fool of himself instead. Shino's bugs get eaten by fly traps and the ostrich makes an escape. Lee runs after him but runs into a boxing kangaroo. Mr. Ostrich runs to Naruto and surprises him with his ability to speak. Naruto, Kotetsu and Lee all struggle in fighting against the powerful animals and decide to retreat.

Kotetsu decides for the team to longer hold back against them when suddenly Mr. Ostrich and the kangaroo find them. Mr. Ostrich, who now names himself Condor, is tired of humans domesticating animals and formed a team of ninja animals. Shino tries to sneak his bugs to Condor again but they are eaten yet again by an anteater that is part of Condor's team. The team battles against the animals, who prove to be a handful for them. Kotetsu decides to use his Conch Shell Mace to fight Condor who is knocked down by his powerful kicks. Izumo arrives and yells at Kotetsu to run from Condor's attack. Izumo uses his Water Release: Starch Syrup Capturing Field to trap Condor and Kotetsu manages to strike down Condor. The rest of the team manages to defeat the other animals they were fighting. Izumo arrived to help out Kotetsu but resulted in leaving a stack of Tsunade's paperwork unfinished. Kotetsu decides to make it up by finishing the work for him. The flashback ends and Naruto finds Condor who is surprised to see he escaped yet again and chases after him.

Lee arrives at Tsunade's tent and asks Sakura how she is feeling though Sakura nods her head no. Lee brought a bottle of medicine Guy made for her to get well and has a flashback of when Tsunade told him he could no longer become a ninja. Naruto and Sakura find Ino Yamanaka at the hospital who tells them they have a mission together. They say their hellos to Lee in his room. Lee accidentally drops his youth drink bottle that Guy made for him but Naruto catches it and drinks it all, putting Lee is dismay. Lee explains that, with the drink, he would be able to recover a little faster. Naruto decides to go see Guy and have him make another drink. Guy appoints Naruto to a mission to go to Mount Jofuku to retrieve the Jofuku Flower, a medicinal herb said to cure any illness, which is the missing ingredient in the medicine he is making. Before setting off, Naruto puts on the green jumpsuit that Guy gave him.

Naruto meets Sakura and Ino at the village gate who were waiting to leave with Naruto to their mission. Naruto tells them of his mission at Mount Jofuku which is also the place of his team's mission. The team takes a break at a small tea soup where the old lady there warns them of Jofuku Forest that has ghosts of dead ninja wandering about. The team head to Jofuku Forest where they find a large sign blocking a path. Naruto decides to go through it with Sakura and Ino following him, having no choice. Naruto finds the Jofuku Flowers but upon pulling them causes some sand appearing that forms into Gaara after the mention of him from Ino. The team are shocked to see "Gaara" and decide to retreat but suddenly the Gaara impostor starts attacking Naruto, having the same abilities as the real Gaara. Ino tries her Mind Body Switch Technique on the impostor but cannot sense a consciousness in it. Naruto destroys the Gaara impostor with the Naruto Uzumaki Combo and a Rasengan. Suddenly they are approached by an old medical ninja from Konoha named Furofuki who is doing research in the forest.

Sakura asks Furofuki who or what was the Gaara impostor. They are then answered that it was a Jofuku Flower, which assumes the form of the nemesis of whoever pulls it. They give Furofuki the letter that they were assigned to do and are given another mission by her to take loads of Jofuku Flowers back to Konoha. With the final ingredient at hand, Guy is able to finish the medicine and makes a bowl full of medicine balls for Lee. Lee is shocked to hear that Sakura and her team did this and decides to recover as soon as possible. While Lee starts devouring the horribly tasting medicine balls, Guy does 1000 push-ups, not wanting Lee to be the only one to suffer, and the flashback ends.

Five Kage Summit arc
When news reaches Konoha of Sasuke Uchiha's crimes against other villages, Lee and the rest of the Konoha 11 decide they should eliminate Sasuke themselves before he can involve Konoha in a war. So that Sakura can inform Naruto of their decision, Lee, Kiba, and Sai escort her to the Land of Iron. When they locate him, Sakura tells Naruto that she loves him, surprising Lee. This does not convince him to give up his own search for Sasuke, so they leave without another word. Sakura then asks her escorts to help her find Sasuke. When they near his location, Sakura tries to knock them out so she can face Sasuke alone. Sai stops her, so Sakura convinces Lee and Kiba that he is a traitor. While they try to detain him, she succeeds in knocking them out.

After Sakura and the rest of Team 7 meet with Sasuke, they retrieve Lee and the others and return to Konoha. Lee is later seen with the rest of the Konoha 11 hearing Naruto's decision to take responsibility for Sasuke. Though they protested this action, Naruto firmly states that he would be the one to take care of Sasuke. Before leaving, he promises to tell them everything when the time was right.

Chikara arc
Lee and his team-mates were sent to back up Team Kakashi who were investigating what was happening at The Hole located in the Tonika Village. During this mission, Lee and Guy confronted Naruto's berserk clone, and after opening the Fifth Gate alongside his mentor, was able to stave off the creature before it took on a pseudo-Nine-Tails form.

The Nine-Tailed Naruto clone tries to attack Dokku and the orphans, when Might Guy and Rock Lee arrive to repel it. While they fight the beast, Kabuto tries to control it, but to no avail. The rest of Konoha 11 arrive. Team Asuma helps Sakura and Kakashi and Team Kurenai helps Naruto. Tenten and Neji arrive, but are cornered by the reincarnated puppets. Kakashi chases Kabuto. The beast grabs Naruto to absorb chakra, which the Nine-Tails gladly shares. Hinata tries to defend Naruto, but is sent flying. After the beast absorbs Naruto's chakra, it grows in size and starts to devastate the Hachō Village, even firing a Tailed Beast Ball in far away, missing Yamato, Sai, Deidara and Hidan who are fighting outside the village. Dokku tries to save Naruto, who is still unconscious. Moments before the beast tramples them, Kabuto summons a snake to swallow both of them alive and retreats. While inside the underground hall in the Tonika Village, Naruto, unconscious and strangled by snakes, meets the Nine-Tails again in his subconscious.

The Konoha-nin investigates Kabuto's intention in the meanwhile. Shiseru remembers an earlier conversation between her and Dokku about the pros and cons of them adopting the kids. While the Nine-Tails tries to control Naruto, Dokku calls him, but gets shouted instead. Dokku asks Naruto what burden a powerful person carries and made Naruto choose the reason why he desires to be powerful, seeing flashbacks of his comrades of Konoha and also Sasuke, leading to the seal inside Naruto to gain strength again. Dokku gives Naruto his forehead protector, stating that he believes in him. Meanwhile, Leo decides to save their teacher by giving the mysterious iron bars which were mentioned earlier by the Tonika Village Head. While inside the hall, Kabuto, along with two reincarnated puppets, approaches with Disonasu, revealed to have engineered Tonika's destruction. Disonasu pulls out a scroll from which emerges the item that he desired: the Saezuri.

While the Saezuri is revealed, learning that Disonasu employed Kabuto Yakushi to wipe out the residents of Tonika Village, Dokku tried to attack Disonasu, but stopped by a reincarnated puppet and restrained by a resurrected Takigakure shinobi. Disonasu also praised Naruto about defeating Pain, the one who scarred him and left him powerless, before kicking the boy repeatedly. Miina and the orphans came to The Hole to give the iron bars, but Kabuto's clone intercepted them. Meanwhile, the rest of Konoha 11, along with Kakashi, Shiseru, Yamato and Sai moved out to the area. Disonasu prepares the summoning of the "power" by putting the remaining iron bars while Naruto enters Sage Mode. Miina hums to the sound as the Saezuri is activated, causing the area Naruto is on, the Ama no Hoko, to rise above ground. Kakashi arrived on the scene, revealing Disonasu's past as a bloodthirsty murderer and former Akatsuki subordinate whose speciality is the field of Summoning Technique, having researched Impure World Reincarnation with Orochimaru. Kabuto summons his puppets, the Nine-Tailed Naruto Clone, Hidan, and Deidara. Naruto faces off with the clone, while Deidara uses Explosive Clay to create a diversion and chase Naruto.

Disonasu escapes and Hidan faces Shikamaru. Deidara activates the Explosive Clay on the bodies of the resurrected individuals, as Hidan uses his ritual against Team Asuma, and Sakura got restrained by Hayate and the others. While Naruto relentlessly attacked the clone, he learned there is more than power. As Yamato restrained Disonasu, he activated the Saezuri, opening the area where Naruto faces the clone, draining the lake as an obelisk rises and creates a storm. After Hidan's clone body breaks down due to the shorten life spans of the snakes composing his body, Deidara is controlled by Kabuto to escape Kakashi. A lightning hit the area where the orphans are running, Miina pointing to the obelisk. When the storm expands towards Konoha, Tsunade goes out as the storm engulfs the Land of Fire. Naruto tried to stop Disonasu from ascending the tower, only to face his clone after he absorbed some of the tower's power and transformed a Hydra-tailed fox monster.

Absorbing the power within the Ama no Hoko, the Nine-Tailed Naruto Clone mutated into a hydra-tailed version of the Nine-Tails while sending Disonasu to his death. Overpowered, Naruto almost gave in to the Nine-Tails' offer for power when Minato's voice urges the boy to control the tailed beast as Naruto is engulfed in a six-tailed chakra cloak in the Nine-Tails' image. Over time, as he starts to lose against the clone, the Nine-Tails starts to take control over Naruto's body and assumes a seven-tailed jinchūriki state with Yamato trying to restrain it. At the same time, though followed by Kakashi Hatake, Kabuto Yakushi manages to take his leave in midst of the ensuing chaos. Dokku and Shiseru decide to deactivate the Ama no Hoko and say good-bye to the children. On their way there, they confess their love for each other and decide to get married if they survive before portions of the ground start to sink, with Dokku keeping Shiseru from falling.

By that time, Miina is able to get through Naruto, regaining control as he assumed a new form to save Shiseru after telling Dokku to go forward and stop the Ama no Hoko. As Dokku recalls the tune Miina hummed to change the sounds in the Saezuri to deactivate the tower, Naruto uses his new power to destroy his clone as the Ama no Hoko recedes into the ground. The children celebrate with Naruto.

Adventures at Sea arc
Lee dreamed fighting Tobi, after awaking, he then thinks about his training to the upcoming war, and saw a boat, while Guy remembers their past "visualisation training" with him using the menu in a restaurant they celebrated when Lee mastered Reverse Lotus (although they left it in ruins when Lee was drunk). Guy wants to have it kept secret, he said it so they can remember what happened there (although he really knows what happened). First is training the White Crane Fist, but the birds beat them. Then the Snake Fist, but the quicksand almost killed them. Next is the Eagle Claw Fist, they had to climb on a seemingly-like cliff, but the eagle caught them. The last is then Lee getting near to know it, but Guy thinks of an alibi, but when they trained in a waterfall he then realises, and learned the Seasick Fist, which he then defeated Guy. Naruto then commented that he can't use said fist unless he didn't overcome his seasickness. Lee is later shown training it while riding in a boat.

At a meeting held by the Hyūga clan regarding the impending war, Neji is appointed as the commander of the clan on the frontlines by Hiashi which shocked some of the members. Hinata later meets with Kurenai where she is told by Shikamaru that he and quite a few of the other members of the Konoha 11 had seen Naruto since he left the village and that Tsunade was looking for her.

Hopeful that Tsunade had in fact requested her to go on a mission so she could see Naruto she goes in search of her only to be disappointed. She along with the other females of the Konoha 11 and Shiho are later invited by Tenten to a girls night out at Yakiniku Q. Somewhat saddened that he wasn't invited, Chōji comes up with the idea of a guys night out at the same place. The two groups talk about Naruto and the past, reminiscing about the first Chūnin Exams. The girls are later joined by Shizune and a moderately intoxicated Tsunade. Tsunade attempts to apologise for how she dismissed Hinata earlier but Hinata tells her it was fine as she knew what she had to do. The next day during her training with Neji she tells him that she bore no ill will towards him for her father's decision and that he was the right person to lead them in the war.

After Rock Lee falls into a river during their training, Tenten has a flashback of her youth, while waiting for him to surface. When she was a child, she had dreamed to become a strong kunoichi like her heroine: Tsunade, and thanks to Guy's guidance she initially began her path towards becoming a legendary medical-nin. However she failed during her training trying to heal a fish, and her attempts to sign a contract to summon a creature like Tsunade's famed slugs met no success because of her quarrel with Ningame, Guy's summon. After many failures, Guy notes that she had a talent for fūinjutsu and began honing her unique fighting style. After that she realised that she was a weapons specialist and vowed that instead of becoming just like Tsunade, she would still become a legendary kunoichi.

Fourth Shinobi War arc
During the Fourth Shinobi World War, Lee is assigned to the Third Division alongside Sakura and Guy. He is seen fretting over his sensei's condition while Sakura tries to heal him. When members of the Surprise Attack Division are attacked by the reincarnated shinobi, the Third Division arrives in time to intercept the attack. He is then seen along with the Third Division clashing against the reincarnated ninja. Upon Kakashi's orders, they group into a Manji Formation, Lee promises that no matter what he will protect Sakura; she however tells him to also be careful as last time Zabuza was able to penetrate the formation from its weak point; the centre. He and Guy later intercepted Haku's assault with the Leaf Coiling Whirlwind. In the anime, after the Seven Ninja Swordsmen of the Mist were summoned, Guy told Lee to chase after Pakura while he went after Gari. After a long day battling, Lee and the recuperates with his remaining division members as night falls

With the resumption of battle the next day, Lee sticks close to Sai who had been tasked with sealing the reincarnated Seven Ninja Swordsmen of the Mist. Lee tells Sai not to worry and just concentrate on the sealing while he would protect him. When Naruto's shadow clone arrives on the battlefield, Lee exclaims that with him here their numbers would increase. However, Naruto tells them that he wouldn't be able to perform the Shadow Clone Technique in his current state, so they'd have to defeat the new wave of White Zetsu Army clones with quality of techniques instead of quantity in numbers.

Later in the anime, the Third Division came across another reincarnated shinobi: Master Chen — a renown hero of Konohagakure who was thought to have died during the Third Shinobi World War. As Might Guy who is happy at the prospect on challenging such a famed taijutsu master, Konoha's Sublime Green Beast of Prey soon finds himself being forced on the defensive by the old man. A shinobi is able to break away from the battle and in his search for reinforcements, finds Rock Lee who rushes to Guy's aid. Seeing the legend he met once before as a genin before him, Lee reveals his history with Chen before engaging the legend in battle. Ultimately, Lee is able to counter Chen's Leaf Dragon God technique, using the One-Man Front Lotus which he had engineered to counter the rotation of the winds of the former. As Chen's immortal body disintegrates, he remembers the time when he had his own student who was incapable of using ninjutsu, and how he had died during the Third Shinobi World War. Finally letting go of his painful past and apologising to the young man for what he had said, the old master was able to break the summoning contract and his soul returns to the afterlife. Lee promises to Chen that he'll bring rice balls to his grave.

After being informed by Inoichi from HQ that Naruto and B were fighting the "masked Madara", Lee and the rest of the Konoha 11 rush to his aid. As he runs, he spurred Sai — who was lamenting the fact that he could not use his Super Beast Imitating Drawing technique to get to Naruto faster — onwards telling him that now was the time to respond to the heroic efforts of those fighting Tobi.

Upon finally arriving at the battlefield, and seeing his mentor's state, Lee asked whether or not Guy had used the Daytime Tiger technique again. He later stood with the other members of the Allied Shinobi Forces as they prepared to face their opposition. Opening the Fifth Gate, Lee and his mentor prepare to attack the two Uchiha, but are buffeted by the force exerted by the now fully-matured Ten-Tails as it escaped the hole it had seemingly been trapped in. He is then seen with Guy and Tenten reacting to Neji's death. Tearfully holding his fallen team-mate's corpse, he was stopped by Guy who told him to keep his tears and hold onto the feelings Neji left them. Lee was then seen listening on as Naruto imparted comforting words to the Allied Forces.

Thinking back on his time with Neji growing up and the conversations they had, Lee mused about something Neji had said to him. Having received chakra from Naruto, the now empowered Lee, respectfully closed his fallen comrade's eyes before joining the ranks of the other Allied shinobi. Charging forward with the Alliance, Lee signalled to Naruto that he would deal with Madara while he took care of Obito. With Guy giving him a boost, Lee propelled towards Madara and remorselessly bisected the Uchiha with a powerful kick, also destroying Madara's connection to the beast.

He would later stare in amazement at the red barrier that had been constructed around the Ten-Tails and listened on as Guy noted that only shinobi of Hokage-calibre were able to perform the Four Red Yang Formation technique. With the situation later turning grim as the Alliance was trapped in a barrier with a Tailed Beast Ball-firing tree, Lee and the other shinobi soon found themselves shrouded in the previous Version 1 mantles again. He and the other subsequently found themselves on the outside of the barrier, escaping the near-fatal attack thanks to Naruto and Minato's action.

Naruto movie l
Lee was on ly seen in a flashback by Naruto

Video Games
Rock Lee is a playable character in the following video games:

Quotes

 * (To Tenten) "A genius, huh? What does that mean? "Genius"? So I was not born with a whole lot of natural talent, not gifted like Neji… but I work hard and I never give up! That is my gift; that is my ninja way!"
 * (To Sakura) "Sakura, please go out with me! I'll protect you with my life!"
 * (To Sasuke) "Among strong people exists genius types and hard-working types. If your Sharingan is a genius-type from the Uchiha blood, I am simply a hard-working type who has mastered only taijutsu."
 * (To Team 7) "See?! Guy-sensei is incredible!"
 * (To Sakura) "The lotus of Konoha blooms twice."
 * (To Guy) "I want to show I can be a splendid ninja as well even if I don't have ninjutsu or genjutsu… I want to prove it to the whole world!"
 * (To Kimimaro) "I am Konoha's Beautiful Green Wild Beast — Rock Lee!"

Trivia

 * Rock Lee has his own spin-off series called Rock Lee's Springtime of Youth by Kenji Taira, an assistant of Masashi Kishimoto.
 * Like his sensei, Rock Lee's character seems to be inspired by Bruce Lee, as shown from his name and having the same birthday and hair style.
 * Rock Lee placed very high in the first four Naruto character popularity polls. He finished 5th in the first and second polls, 8th in the third poll and 7th in the fourth poll. But his popularity slipped in the last two polls, finishing 13th in the fifth poll and 18th in the sixth and most recent. In the 3rd Databook, a combination of the previous six polls ranked him as the 9th most popular character overall.
 * According to the databook(s):
 * Rock Lee's hobbies are his and Might Guy's intense taijutsu training regimes.
 * Lee wishes for rematches with Neji, Sasuke, and Gaara, and for an all-out match with Naruto.
 * Lee's favourite foods are medium spicy curry rice and curry pilaf, though, like his sensei, he finds it impossible to dislike any sort of food.
 * Lee has completed 61 official missions in total: 25 D-rank, 21 C-rank, 4 B-rank, 10 A-rank, 1 S-rank.
 * Lee's favourite words are "Endeavour" (努力, doryoku), "Guts" (根性, konjō), and "Love" (愛, ai).

Voice actors
Japanese voice actor : Yoichi Masukawa

English voice actor : Brian Donovan