Fixing Rock Lee's Biggest Plot Hole

[@DygoKnight]

Could Rock Lee beat Neji?

[@danielsantiagourtado3430]

With the element of surprise regarding the Gates YES

[@bineetroy4581]

I think Lee is stronger than a stick, so yeah

[@Fungi75]

Yeah cus neji was a pencil holder and rock lee has the eight gates

[@AndyCog_1710]

Yes but he couldn’t beat Hikaku

[@SunlightGwyn]

Yes. Neji isn’t even in the top 5 strongest Genin. Naruto, Sasuke, Gaara, Rock Lee, and Temari are all stronger than Neji.

[@regiman222]

I'm reminded of a joke that Rock Lee is the only person in Naruto who's an actual ninja, while everyone else are wizards pretending to be ninja.

[@yajurraghavan4193]

This🤌🤌🤌

[@bristleback3614]

Tenten is the actual ninja, she make a heavy use of tool and weaponry just like a real ninja

[@yajurraghavan4193]

@@bristleback3614 I've been saying this only. But no one listens.

[@LastGREATEST0]

It’s Kakashi he’s the only one that wears a mask and goes for the kill

[@SavageRush012]

And he's not even a ninja. There's nothing stealthy or silent about him or Guy.

[@phogetta1]

Remember, you can run out of chakra but not these hands.

[@Joshua_N-A]

That's how I play Torchlight

[@SunlightGwyn]

Really? Naruto and Sasuke are on their last ones.

[@phogetta1]

@@SunlightGwyn u cold as ice 😆

[@NotDaveGahan]

The Yuji Itadori special.

[@dareokoski8158]

U can Run them knuckles 👊

[@Zurenza]

I think an important note is, the Anime says that rock lee "Can't use Ninjutsu or Genjutsu", but, the manga states he has "No Talent" for it. And that he persevered through the academy by focusing entirely on Taijutsu. It's possible that, it's not that he can't use Ninjutsu at all, he just has absolutely no Chakra Control and Low Chakra Reserves, meaning for him using Ninjutsu is like 10x's harder than most people, he could have passed the exam properly by producing a single shadow clone but he doesn't use that skill because it's far too difficult for him and drains his chakra way to much. Not to mention, he does have basic control over his chakra as he can walk on vertical surfaces, water and the like and even(In the anime) dispel some Genjutsu. So more than like "No Talent" means litteraly no talent, not the he can't do it at all.

[@nani4249]

Exactly might guy never said in the manga he couldn't do ninjutsu but just doesnt have the talent to do it. And the academy exam requirements are easy to pass, thr requirement is 1 basic clone for narutos year.

[@SalemKFox]

I was thinking that too, he definitely had to be capable of chakra control if he can walk on water, so they must have been saying he just couldnt do them very well, much like how Tenten couldn't do anything but summon ninja tools. I don't think they ever specified that he just sucks at ninjutsu, not that he cant use ninjutsu, so it sounded like he just cant do anything except taijutsu

[@zeka2255]

This! People always say that Lee is absolutely incapable of doing ninjutsu and genjutsu. But that is not true. He is just bad at those.

[@CheezMonsterCrazy]

There is also the fact that he clearly has chakra, and probably quite a bit of it since that is what makes you stronger as you open the gates. He's just absolute shit at getting it out of his body.

[@imamfakhruddin1015]

But this video literally showed us a page where Guy himself said that Lee *can't* use Ninjutsu. He explicitly said can't. Refer to 3:02 for the timestamp

[@masaomorinaga6412]

My theory is that Lee moved side to side so fast that the examiners thought he was making clones. Where there is the will of fire, there is a way.

[@InfernosReaper]

Too bad he was weak then... or perhaps Gai just took him on as a student and got him the Genin promotion and *that* was one of Gai's criteria for it

[@monkeybomb1232]

Hes just so sneaky you didn't see him cheat.

[@Joshua_N-A]

Now, all he need to do is GET BALD.

[@Joshua_N-A]

Now, all he need to do is GET BALD.

[@Lavanence]

Mash type solution

[@son_of_the_heavymetal1142]

It's totally because of Guy. If the dude who can basically punch you to death in a world of magical ninjas tells you that that kid has talent, you better listen to him

[@owenblount7334]

I mean he was using like 4 gates without having a heart attack or turning into jello so it’s kinda understandable

[@112313]

Guy sensei also don't have chakra... Right?

[@GeorgeKush24]

@@112313 he does

[@foobless]

@@112313 lee and guy both have chakra

[@ngrjordi2352]

​@@112313Guy can use ninjutsu

[@Atticus-Catnipp]

The only hole Lee should have made is to kick through Madara if Guy had died

[@justinarzola4584]

Better than black zetsu putting a hole in him.

[@loliH9]

​@justinarzola4584 Rock Lee kicks Madara in half: Madara: Oh. Okay. Zetsu stabs Madara: Madara: AAAAIIIIIIEEEEEE ZETSU? ZETSU NOOO PERISH AT THE HANDS OF MY OWN SERVANT! NOT THAT! NO WAY HAS DESTINY CONSPIRED AGAINST ME SO TRAGICALLY!

[@Jimraynor45]

Compared to Naruto, Rock Lee made little progress. Consider that Naruto managed to surpass both his sensei, Kakashi and Jiraiya, yet when it counted most, rock lee never measured past Might Guy.

[@Mahlak_Mriuani_Anatman]

​@Jimraynor45 oof, who knows

[@amari7782]

@@Jimraynor45to be fair Naruto literally got shit like sage mode, had shadow clone which sped the process of making rasenshuriken and was able to befriend kurama. Mans had more tools at his disposal while lee just had Taijutsu and no way of learning anything more

[@eveningstar4543]

I had a friend who would impersonate Lee while playing COD and he would say: "I will get a 2.0 KDR even though I can't snipe!" 😂

[@fiveestar_rell]

😂😂

[@scootbacksome3245]

Did he?

[@volde486]

But you can get a 2.0 kdr without sniping anyways 😭

[@eveningstar4543]

@@scootbacksome3245 I think he got to 1.7. He still never learned to quick scope.

[@eveningstar4543]

@@volde486 True.

[@drowning.macaco]

The fact lee does nothing in shippuden but then he just cuts madara in 2 💀

[@xzorgo2453]

Lee? what it was Might Guy not Rock Lee who kicked Madara ass (Rock Lee teacher )

[@SavageRush012]

@@xzorgo2453 Lee kicked Madara in half when Madara was still an Edo Tensei.

[@RancorSnp]

The biggest problem for Lee as a character is that Guy exists. It was a fun gag at first to make Lee's teacher basically better Lee. But writing the story forward if you have the option to give feats to Lee or Lee+ - obviously they need to go to Lee+. If Might Guy didn't exist, or died - all of Guy's feats would be Lee's feats and people would love it. See how much following there is for Guy, now let's imagine we move all of these feats to Lee who we know so much more about

[@jahkrmusic]

@@RancorSnpi completely agree as thats all i was thinking in my rewatch.

[@SavageRush012]

The more you think about Naruto, the more plot holes and inconsistencies emerge.

[@ghastyboistudios]

Same with pretty much anything tbh

[@SavageRush012]

@@ghastyboistudios Some things more than others

[@yamete_kudasai6969]

Nah one piece has more

[@SavageRush012]

@@yamete_kudasai6969 Who mentioned One Piece? No one. We're talking about Naruto.

[@loliH9]

Plot hole: Oops! I've been found! 👉👆💨😶‍🌫️💨

[@luluzin5022]

This plot hole was so easy to avoid too. Just add a pannel where Guy explains he personally asked the Hokage to pass Rock Lee so he could train him. Kishimoto has a lot of these moments, in which he doesn't realise he wrote a plot hole. So instead of doing minimal effort to explain the issue, he just lets it slide and leaves the audience confused.

[@Urizen-v7v]

Let's just pretend that it happened off screen

[@yandereneko5523]

The biggest plot hole is that Lee has like zero significant Ws

[@DJYC21215]

I think that's intentional, As you can't really beat any of the stronger Ninja in this show with just Taijutsu.

[@MichaelAChristian1]

​@@DJYC21215Lee would kill half Akatsuki.

[@canaldecasta]

A regular human with a rifle can kill most of the cast and Lee was like a living bullet.

[@yandereneko5523]

@@MichaelAChristian1 would he? Alot of Lee's "feats" comes from falsely scaling him to Guy.

[@ayhamahmad2277]

​@@DJYC21215look at guy kishimoto can write side characters the problem started before the chunin exam original kishimoto wanted to have more arc like visiting each other village introduce each other team but the editor forced him to cut down the moment they did that any hope for the side characters and the world building died because they basically can force kishimoto to change the story and they probably told him to focus on Naruto and sasuke that the problem that why neji and lee should have died like original intended in the sasuke rescue arc there is no hope for them because kishimoto can't aid more arc unless the editor allow him

[@GDev-og4fv]

When you realize people mocked Might Duy for being a genin but worship Sasuke and Naruto who are also genin

[@emoimo4171]

The difference is Duy was a Genin because of his lack of talent. Naruto and Sasuke are Genin because there’s no reason for them to take the exams Even in universe, Duy got mocked

[@Dunkyoudood]

​@@emoimo4171i mean, naruto turned into kage even skipping the chunin exams and sasuke is basically a kage at that point

[@codbeast914]

That was because he was always training the gates so he was always fatigued. He could have not used the gates for a month and blitzed the chunin exam he just didn't care to self progress was more important to him than a rank .

[@codbeast914]

​@@emoimo4171Duy got mocked because he never used the gates on allies or even showed them( maybe except like hiruzen and a couple other people). If everyone saw him go all out he would have gotten way more respect. Once he runs off the 7 swords men of the mist everyone realized they were hilariously wrong about his strength.

[@emoimo4171]

@@codbeast914 But he needed the EIGHTH gate to beat the seven swordsman, who are mostly just mid-Jonin level at best Guy could’ve solo’d them with 4th gate, if he’d even need that Yes, the gates made him much stronger than your average ninja, but without them he had nothing, and with them it took the eighth gate to make him high Jonin-Kage level

[@kingofgames6248]

So basically Rock graduated because of his “Will of Fire” 🔥

[@Lavanence]

Maybe Guy pulled some strings, bc he wanted him under his wing

[@justacoolname69420]

@@Lavanence i mean he is pretty overwhelming for a regular shinobi

[@muriok2474]

I like the idea of Guy playing a part of lee getting to graduate

[@wisequigon]

nah, Lee graduated on his own. He passed the exams. 1) Transformation Jutsu. He is already dressed like Guy so he puffed a smoke bomb, used some wooden sandals to be on the same height and did the Nice Guy pose and everybody thought he transformed in Guy. Pass 2) Clone Jutsu. He didn't wear his leg weight that day, and he was so fast he left still images of himself when he run around the classroom. Pass 3) Profit 😂

[@DelothVyrr]

#2 doesn't work because Lee didn't acquire his insane speed until after he had joined team Guy

[@artist0154]

@@DelothVyrr is canon tho, in Rock lee SD he runs so fast that he creates "clones" but are just after images

[@frankunodostres473]

this just shows how scary strong guy is. he has all the discipline, hard work, taijutsu mastery that lee has PLUS actual chakra to use

[@caretakercat7176]

Might Guy and Rock Lee walked so Maki and Toji Zenin could run

[@RedInAsia]

Don’t be ridiculous 😂❤

[@Glados1080]

Toji having no cursed energy but soloing Dagon, AS A REANIMATED CORPSE was crazy

[@justacoolname69420]

Don't forget Might Dai, the og who started it all 🙏

[@AK-MS27]

Gege copied Naruto and Bleach heavily

[@Mr.Lubbox-Lobsterlegz1]

It’s been 20 years and Kishimoto still refuses to simply give an answer to this big ol’ plot hole

[@DevDog98]

its not a plot hole he was made a ninja because of his taijutsu skills

[@Mr.Lubbox-Lobsterlegz1]

@@DevDog98 Guy Sensei said before that at first Lee had no talent In ninjutsu genjutsu and taijutsu as well at first, this plot hole is a mile wide sir 😂

[@DevDog98]

@@Mr.Lubbox-Lobsterlegz1 ok? and at first naruto was shit too and then he had training. PlOt HoLe!

[@nani4249]

​@@Mr.Lubbox-Lobsterlegz1talent, yet doesn't say he cannot perform jutsu, maybe he did have to do a clone but only summoned 1 barely passing. Lee hasn't actually been confirmed not being able to do ninjutsu just that he's bad at it. (Also who knows maybe Lees only bad at ninjutsu because he's not a good learner in academy teaching ways rather than not having the ability). I do agree though kishimoto should really expand the world a bit, for a series that's over 600 chapters it's world building is surprising small (at least the world building on screen)

[@leonkheric]

At the Guy vs Madara fight, Lee explains that the Gates become more confortable the more you train, and that his extreme was the 6th gate (on the Gaara fight, that was the 4th). I belive is pretty safe to asume Guy has the 6th gate "comfortably" used (equivalent to Lee's 3rd gate on Gaara) and pushes the 7th with little efford. We don't really see gates 5-7 a lot, but it's also safe to asume 6th can defeat almost any common Jonin-level ninja or lower, and 7th should pose a threat to anyone besides Madara (and maybe Pain since his fight style can keep Guy out of reach). Also Madara implies that the 8th gate, although one time use, is one of (if not the) most powerful techniques, and that he survives by a matter of seconds agains Guy, naming him the only ninja that was actually a threat for him. So Guy is a Taijutsu-only fighter that can comfortably beat almost anyone, can push himself to destroy Elites and has a one-time use Nuke ready for emergencies. If the series was not about Naruto, Guy would probably beat Madara. For me, Guy is Konoha Strongest by far, since he can do all that and ALSO summon a turtle just because.

[@MagicMetalBird]

Lee hits different when you’re disabled. He’s the poster boy for the disabled: people who have to work twice as hard for half the recognition. You’re cringe and the butt of every joke, and even when you DO succeed, people question how you got here. Does it even count if you got accommodations? Why are you allowed to do the job you’ve proven you can do without meeting these tedious requirements? Never mind that everything you need to do takes twice as much work and everything needs to be some form of overcompensation. It took coming back to Naruto as an adult for me to really appreciate what was going on with Lee's character.

[@OnlySayori]

lee hits different if your just different to others or if you struggle with stuff alot in general, he was really relatable cause to me, i was also pretty talentless and couldent do much, still can't but, its a pretty inspiring character

[@DirransRL]

Rock Lee certainly hit different, training to get better fine motor function thanks to Asperger's Syndrome. Was very frustrating feeling like other people were just better "by default". Doing well in adulthood, but man was I glad for that in the early 10s. (I know they use a different term now, but that was what I was diagnosed with at the time)

[@samueljackson3512]

At least I hope it feels good that everyone loves Lee, even if Kishi did him a bit dirty in part 2

[@David-Dash-IBA]

He became a ninja because his hair says so. His hair says "NINJA"

[@drparadox7833]

I understood that in this way: Guy was average at ninjutsu since he can summon turtles and disperse a genjutsu so he passed and once Kakashi showed him Lee, Guy decided to pull some strings to help Lee graduate and be placed on his team.

[@SpaceDetectiveTravis]

Imagine when Might Guy is talking to Hiruzen about letting Lee graduate and Hiruzen is 50/50 about it due to potential bias from Guy blinding him, Kakashi actually drops to back Guy up by vouching for Guy's request. I mean, if both of the strongest Jonin are vouching for someone who normally wouldn't pass and one of em is considered a prodigy, I'd be enough for Hiruzen to give the green light to Guy's request. Of course, afterwards Kakashi tries to hand wave it away by telling Guy he did it because he has the manners of a 5 year old for a serious request... But if anyone pull off the impossible I'd probably be him before walking away... And then sprinting like mad when Guy starts chasing him in an attempt to bear hug him with happy tears in his eyes

[@DodoJacket]

I actually watched the first episode and Mizuki (the white haired guy that tricks Naruto) who is also another teacher was talking to Iruka and asked him why won't he just let Naruto pass because his "physical coordination and stamina is excellent." This could imply that Rock Lee passed because of how good his physical was.

[@crumby46]

Let's just remember that Rock Lee is the only ninja in Naruto. Everyone else are wizards pretending to be ninja.

[@chaosryans]

I always just assumed Lee tried and was failing but Guy endorsed him and made him train, and lee was inspired by Guy's hard work and belief in him. At least that's what the writing made me think.

[@_viewsfromthed]

Might Dai, Gai’s dad died a genin. He was just a taijutsu specialist. This is same ninja that mastered the 8 inner gates and defeated 6 of the 7 legendary swordsmen. Gai didn’t just see himself in Lee but he saw his father too.

[@viniciushenrique6672]

Think so too.

[@abongilezolanipeterson5588]

He didn’t defeat seven legendary swordmen, he used a suicide technique to stalemate them. If you die, it’s a draw, you didn’t win. Using a suicide technique is an admission of inferiority

[@abrvalg321]

They graduated Rock Lee just to have a number divisible by 3 to form teams.

[@mickeymorant]

Sometimes I wonder if Kishimoto ended up giving most of Rock Lee's story to Guy throughout Naruto instead. I kind of feel like it was just easier to loop Guy in as Kakashi's best friend than having Rock Lee randomly become Naruto's best friend

[@CynicalImpact]

2 big things to point out are that they don't necessarily say he can't use ninjutsu/genjutsu, just that he has no talent for it. And when Kakashi's dad is talking to him he mentions the academy "announcing alternates" so they probably have specific people that get through based on other factors.

[@danielsantiagourtado3430]

Guy's utter faith in lee is one of My favorite parts of the story. And he was right. Lee became a splendid shinobi

[@animanics]

naruto going "why did it have to be doppelgangers" implies the final exam could change to whatever they want the curriculum to be (and they could have been singling him to screw him over) and shadow clones being an auto pass means being strong enough lets you skip the exams. Rock Lee was probably strong enough they let him skip through taijutsu alone

[@charlesreed7935]

Rock Lee wasn’t good at taijutsu till after guy

[@animanics]

@@charlesreed7935 he wasn't good but he was still good enough to eventually pass. him focusing only on taijutsu was before guy and during academy days as it was the first thing he tells him during their genin team meetup

[@charlesreed7935]

@@animanics yea but he wasn’t that skilled at it liek ppl thing he wasn’t really a taijutsu master when he met guy He trained to get close to his classmates and trained more with guy to become in the konoha 12

[@shiroiku9314]

TLDR: Rock Lee was dedicated to become a Shinobi and Gai saw himself in him.

[@EinsamPibroch278]

Rock Lee is the Tien of Naruto: the Typecast Chinese, with Lee Surname, Queue Hair Tail, and Tang Suit. Sure, other Ninja grow through efforts, but Naruto is a Genius, he has pedigree as the son of the 4th Hokage, AND Blessed with a Fox Demon as an easy out if Naruto ever gets cornered. It makes him Special enough to gain the attention of the Legendary Sanin. Rock Lee, the Typecast Chinese, does everything right and still gets humiliated: as a Chinese Taoist Sage/Martial Artist, he cultivates his Spirit (Ki/Chakra) maintains his fitness, and consistently stays an upright fellow morally. He's the Definition of Hard Works earns your Reward, but apparently Mangaka tend to disagree: Gaara showed no talent for Ninjutsu, and just used straight magic to permanently cripple Rock Lee, a clear message that Cultivation of Self is a waste of time, there will always be somebody better that will ruin your life. So sad.😢

[@Mendoza-yi6qk]

my headcannon was that Lee had a good chakra control like the standing on water or running up buildings and thus graduated without any Nin or Gen Jutsu

[@pkj2148]

I think it's the opposite. I see Ninjutsu and Genjutsu as the good chakra control, and Lee can't use them because he was born with a chakra control defect. Walking on water and walls is the basics of chakra control, so they are easy enough for somone like Lee to be able to master them.

[@extonjonas6820]

Kakashi says something along the lines of if you can walk on trees, you can pretty much learn anything. I am sure he was generalizing but you gotta assume that if Lee was a genius at such techniques there is no way he would be bad at ninjutsu

[@Thatbasedcat]

The military can issue waivers to allow recruits with otherwise disqualifying factors to be service eligible. So it wouldn’t be hard to imagine the shinobis have a similar process

[@blacklivesorblackvotes2985]

Sorry but that’s just speculation. It’s just a plot hole at the end of the day. This isn’t real life, and the Shinobi world clearly isn’t like the average military.

[@Thatbasedcat]

@@blacklivesorblackvotes2985 Well you’re just speculating about my comment. Rock Lee clearly had to get some sort of authorization to join the Shinobi military force. Whether you thinks it’s a plot hole or not. 😹

[@maxime2445]

I think guy saw himself in lee, so he said: graduate that boy. He'll be like me some day.

[@jpcsdutra]

If you think about it, isn't Naruto "failing 3 times and passing on the 4th" also kind of a plothole? Would that make him older than all of the rest of the students? If the graduation exam is yearly, he'd have to be 15, but even if it happens 3 times a year, he still would have been classmates with Neji, Tenten and Lee the year prior. At least he'd have to have started the series at 13 (or the other kids at 11) or at most he'd start at what? 15? 16? If the village is more standardized now and not just accepting anyone at any age.

[@ballerplayapimphuztla]

also sasuke is said to have been talented from the very beginning so it makes even less sense they graduated at the same time hell sasuke is even a few months older than naruto

[@OBsurdityTV]

This plot hole arises from you making up your own Konoha academy rules and standards

[@armaggedon390]

We don't know when Naruto enrolled. There's no reason to believe everyone entered the academy at the same age, and they clearly graduate at different ages. So while odd, it's not a plothole.

[@jpcsdutra]

@@armaggedon390 ​ Eh. Pretty arguable. Like I said, we know enrolling and graduating was different for Kakashi's generation because of the war, but absolutely every character we known that graduated in Naruto's generation has done so at roughly age 12 (give or take months). All of the Konoha 12, Konohamaru's team in Shippuden, and seemingly even in Boruto (And in that there's Iwabe's whole deal, also said to be held back and noticiably older than the rest of the class). So the implication would have to be that while they gratuated at the same time, they didn't enroll at the same time. But that's weird because we do get some flashbacks of the kids together in school, and most of them are from clans that began their trainings themselves separate from school, and kids like Sasuke and Neji would have absolutely no reason to be held back or not get promoted early if they could. Also may be coincidental but we don't even see traditional Genin younger than 12 in their generation, I don't think. I think there's plenty in that to make it more than just 'odd'. It's also not at all ilogical to question it based on the knowledge they do give us about how it operates.

[@DodoJacket]

Sasuke is a couple months older than Naruto. Sakura is a couple months younger than Naruto. They are all same age in the academy and in Naruto but in Naruto Shippuden after the time skip Sasuke is 16, Naruto and Sakura are 15.

[@nicholashayes5773]

I agree with everything except when you said Rock Lee is intelligent. Sorry, he is not. I love the guy to death, but Lee is one of the dumbest ninja in the leaf. He uses forbidden jutsu in friendly sparring matches. He charges head first like a raging bull in every fight no matter what, regardless of the damage he does to his own body. He never should have used the inner gates on Gaara. That should be a last resort, life or death type move. When he realized he couldn't get around Gaara's sand, he should have just forfeited. Know when you're beat, reflect on the fight and do better next time. That would have been strategic. There is nothing "intelligent" about charging into every fight like a mindless animal, destroying your own body in the process.

[@abongilezolanipeterson5588]

You’re trying to minimise humans to AI or robots. Humans are far deeper than that. For Lee, winning that fight meant the world to him. He spent his entire life being looked down on and thought of as someone who could never cut it. He wanted to make it to the finals of the chunin exams and face Neji and defeat him, because to him, Neji was the ultimate genius. If he crashed out in the preliminaries, when would he ever get the chance to validate his hard work and talent again? To him it was crucial moment in his ninja career where he felt he needed to put everything on the line to earn his respect in the ninja world

[@SunlightGwyn]

Based on what happened to Naruto we know the final test in the Academy changes every year. So when Rock Lee passed the test must have been for Taijutsu or something else that didn’t require Ninjutsu or Genjutsu.

[@nicolas._.2294]

I am pretty sure there is no other thing except taijutsu, the weird part is that shouldn't they all learn kinda the same thing? And after they graduate they could learn gen or nin or tai? It feels to complicated to have this many children in the same class and learn them different things instead of everyone learning basics. I mean ik that clone was a requirement and also others small nin but still, that's kinda what they always use in battle so it maked some kind of sense...idk tbh

[@jaythewolf7216]

Naruto even failed 3 times already so he should know that the final exam changes. Naruto even says "that's my worst technique why did it have to be doppelgangers" at 11:25. from that you can imagine that he had hope for it being something easier for him to do. maybe rock lee got lucky and it was a fully Taijutsu based jutsu that he could pull off or maybe something he can get close to with only Taijutsu alone. like the body flicker. rock lee might of just been fast enough to pull it off even if it is seen as a Ninjutsu ability it is just a high-speed movement technique.

[@extonjonas6820]

There is no way they did not have a graduation test that asked for ninjutsu😂. They are ninja. They are sending these guys out in the field. There is no way in hell they should have passed a kid who can't use a single jutsu

[@jaythewolf7216]

@@extonjonas6820 I mean Taijutsu is a type of jutsu and has a whole category of jutsu behind it. So Rock Lee can do a lot of jutsu. just only jutsu classified as Taijutsu.

[@MrT2theroy]

​@@extonjonas6820 He can use ninjustsu, he's just not great at it.

[@armorbearer9702]

I like your idea that Hiruzen was convinced by Guy to let Lee graduate. Guy and his father proved how strong a pure taijutsu build is.

[@ivanbluecool]

Is this a question? The story shows us how ninja can join through a recommendation since Naruto failed the academy we see iruka give him the ok afterwards. Rock lee could be the same as might guy would go full in on recommending him as a ninja. We see how chunin get promoted and it only needs a recommendation If i gotta use other anime for this. Bleach and mha do this where some captains need to get permission and momo and todoroki are on a special recommended system

[@DarthKiller456123]

*Spoilers for those who haven't finished Shippuuden* Also this was really heavily implied during the Gai flashback during the 8 Gates that he also only got permitted since he wasn't on the initial List of graduated Ninjas.

[@lordcypher5889]

I always assumed Might Guy just grabbed him from the academy and trained him from there.

[@Chronoflation]

I always just figured that since Guy said Lee "practically" can't use ninjutsu or genjutsu, that he still was trying those tequniques before Guy started training him and he managed to put all of his effort into making one successful clone or transformation just for the exam. That, or Guy saw him training at the training grounds before he officially met him as his sensei and told the academy professors that he wanted to train Lee so they passed him at the request of an elite Jonin of the village. One of those 2 were my guesses

[@schwarzerritter5724]

We know there are 3 tries to graduate from academy. Naruto failed 2 times but still had the same age as Sasuke and Sakura when graduating, so all 3 tests must have been in the same year. The test Naruto took was for ninjutsu, but we have no reason to believe the other 2 are as well. Since there are 3 schools of jutsu, the other 2 tests might have been for taijutsu, which Naruto is not great at either, and genjutsu, which Naruto definitely failed.

[@KongGig]

Rock lee with shadow clone Jutsu had been insane. I mean 3 super fast and super powerful ninjas attacking you at the same time. But then it would have ruined the point behind Rock Lee arc.

[@DarthVoxyn]

One thing I always wonder about Lee. Why didn’t anyone teach Lee about weapons? Swords, bo staff, nunchucks and so forth would not require chakra and give a big boost for Lee. Something like the Silent Killing Technique used by Zabuza would also help Lee be a good ninja. Now if only Lee was quiet ….

[@АртемийКлочанов]

He barely has screen time and exploration of his character as-is, doing that would require actual screentime for him to develop. Plus, he has a weapon specialist on his team (who is, admittedly, completely useless), so perhaps there was fear about themes being muddled there?

[@JDWalker495]

Imagine he pulled off the his equipment of the “serious side hopes” from one punch man to simulate a clone with afterimages 😂

[@idrinkcofe]

rock lee’s biggest plot hole is how he later spams the ability that nearly ruined his life

[@nigzaminja9328]

It was his work ethic that made him pass sir. The flashback shows him running laps and one kid commented saying that he's making hundreds of laps look easy. So his work ethic (abnormal amount of squats, push ups without chakra manipulation etc) as well as being taught about chakra whatever they teach at the academy combines to him being able to learn taijutsu from Guy to become awesome at it and be able to manipulate chakra to open the 8 inner gates. Might Guy was able to do ninjutsu as well because the summoning jutsu is ninjutsu after all so maybe they thought he'll be able to achieve all of that by making him pass.

[@jesuscamou602]

Rock Lee spin off showed how he passed the exam with fast side stepping, may not be cannon but it’s the best we have and nothing else says otherwise

[@lile3630]

1:00 guy sensei was looking after him

[@GOJI_TIME]

Gay 💀 It's Gai or guy

[@karlluigi1987]

REALITY: Rock Lee is the only ninja in the Village, Everyone else were Wizards.

[@akgus1]

watching this guy is like reading a book but all the other pages are glued shut and it takes forever to get them open since he never gets to the fking point

[@TheCube404]

As far as I remember, He was accepted because he was good at taijutsu. Normally someone like that would be stuck at the lowest position, being treated like a kid. But guys father probably made a very good case against that, and they started being more lenient with it. By the end of the anime, taijutsu with gate opening becomes a force to be reckoned with, even the big bad guy acknowledges that.

[@dochkodochev7680]

Naruto- clone's my worst jutsu Me - dude .. it's your only jutsu Lee- you guys use jutsu?

[@matheuscardoso1]

I find it devastating that we had such an amazing introduction to rock lee story in the chuunin exams, only for him not having any further character development whatsoever.

[@Lucky-Jackass]

Naruto needs a remake for sure😢

[@evan6338]

I hear Netflix is working on a live action one for ya

[@S.Koushikk]

Or some extra episodes with more content based on underrated characters and underrated clans

[@justinarzola4584]

There needs to be a reimagining that features all the ideas and arcs that Kishimoto had thought of but were scrapped.

[@giannixx]

​@@S.Koushikk These episodes would need to be adaptations from Kishimoto's work. Aftter the Minato one-shot, I think Kishi still has what it takes to tell good stories, despite the problems with Samurai 8 and his controversial, dubious participation in Boruto. I hope the Minato one-shot is received well enough in Japan to be made into something like an OVA and generates incentive for Shonen Jump to request more Naruto spin-offs. Of course, Kishimoto himself has to actually want to keep working with the Naruto universe. At least the Minato one-shot seemed like a story he wanted to tell (mostly revolving around Kushina and Kurama, that's why he wanted Kurama to win the poll).

[@nicolas._.2294]

​@@evan6338no no no

[@dyinggiraffe2922]

in a spinoff show its explained that he just moved side to side so fast that they accepted his afterimage as a clone

[@t34r]

Another video that could have been ended with one sentence. "Kishimoto👏just👏didn't👏think👏that👏through👏to👏the👏end".

[@matus19971]

Ah yes, the Third GRADE War 😂😂

[@TheLightningBlade]

Imagine if Rock Lee also had a scientific Ninja Tool along with his Taijutsu.. I mean damn 😲

[@giannixx]

Wouldn't that go against his theme of working hard and succeeding through effort, making the most of what life has given you despite what it has denied?

[@nicolas._.2294]

​@@giannixxlike learning to use a weapon is not hard work and anyone can do it with ease

[@nicolas._.2294]

Look how great using weapons turned out for the people who aren't mc or uchia.. ...tenten be like:👁👄👁

[@dochkodochev7680]

To be honest I can see why hiruzen was the oldest kage... He was the one sending kids in missions 😂

[@leafleaf1225]

How did Naruto fail the ninja academy exam 3 times and is the same age as the other genins? Shouldn't he be the oldest genin in his class?

[@fdfischer]

It seems everyone has a different start date

Rock is basically a normal guy thrown in this univers, even his design suggests that.

[@Kesebii122]

Naruto was failling a few times...with the logic now he should be the oldest boy in currect class and be older than Sakura,Sasuke,Hinata etc... I think that's another small plot hole

[@nicolas._.2294]

If I am not mistaken, he could take the exam more than 1 time in a year, I mean naruto is also the same age as his classmates

[@dustgun3861]

It's probably like joining the military. There's probably not a set age to join.

[@brothsipper-h5o]

Nah Naruto was just taking the exam too early, because that's how Naruto is

[@Asboboardman]

He’s the hokages son the third probably let him in the academy early

[@crumby46]

Presumably one year there was a taijustu exam and rock lee passed it.

[@danielsantiagourtado3430]

Pure big bowl cute energy🎉🎉🎉

[@coscoro]

Ahh yes, because a kid with access to 8-gates shouldn't pass on that alone.

[@henkhenk1601]

Rock lee passed because of his big bowl cut energy BBE

[@jimx45]

From what I've seen the first few episodes, having to make one clone was more or less Iruka's requirement to pass. The white haired guy suggested Iruka to just let Naruto pass who is also another teacher which would imply these rules are set by the teachers for their assigned class and was not arbitrarily set. Rock Lee may have passed by doing exceedingly well in his physicals/taijutsu to have passed. Might Guy might have put in a good word towards Rock Lee's teacher and have him assigned him after graduation to not be a bother to the other jounin. It could be the other jounin needed ninjas with ninjutsu. If you noticed Might Guy's entire team consisted of mostly taijutsu leaning types.

[@foxxowoxxowillow7855]

no views at 45 seconds Dygoknight really fell off

[@bohlokoanchoba7778]

That's some hating shit😂 not gonna lie

[@Antonio-vn5xc]

How is that hating? Lol ​@@bohlokoanchoba7778

[@isaackaumeyer6847]

smh my head my head

[@Gowofowokv2]

Still waiting for someone to actually tell me a valid “plot hole” from Naruto

[@silverwolf6194]

Rock Lee is the guy we thought Naruto was. Just sheer willpower.

[@jeremiahcoup7973]

I have always thought that this lee has been a more interesting character imagine the plot you could with him

[@liber5964]

Logically its because of the hidden gates, a kid who can open up to the 4th gate while a jonin like kakashi could barely open the 1st? That's a prodigy right there.

[@Arting-Sir]

It's because, for his young age, he mastered one of the forbidden Taijutsu that nobody uses because of how risky the draw back is. that alone was enough to make him a ninja by default

[@MoarCheeseBirb]

He graduated just like in real life. Rich dad donated to the school.

[@placidonetodeassisvieira5358]

Lee basically graduated the academy by showing he had that dawg in him. The examiners had no choice but to agree

[@LukeP-k8g]

Rock lee got the whole village hidden in his hands

[@joeyfrogger]

I like to think he just ran back and forth fast enough to make it look like a clone

[@xsailor85]

Also don’t forget Rock Lee’s greatest feat is kicking Saskue in the face twice in one fight.

[@jeremyofficer5038]

What if an examiner had witnessed Rock Lee after a thimble full of alcohol?

[@Avelcaine]

Sakura should have introduced him to Tsunade as a "one good turn..." for saving her during the exam. She's smart enough to realize that even though Lee sucks at expressing chakra, he's perfectly capable of, and maybe even has a particular talent for, *internal* chakra control. He'll never be a medical ninja, but he could certainly benefit from Tsunade's instruction. You can see where this is going. Imagine a Lee with Tsunade's strength amp, who has an effective healing factor that undoes the damage caused by his gate releases as it occurs, meaning there'd be no cumulative penalty for ramping up gate-by-gate. He'd be able to train and fight much more efficiently and frequently, at little-to-no risk to himself.

[@Instafail]

To be fair to Lee's early taijutsu, beating Neji is very difficult to do in close quarters.

[@floatinghamstick]

Here's the thing: genjutsu can do some insane things, Guy and Lee have no way to defend against genjutsu and it could be used to turn them against allies.

[@SantanaBanana47]

I always thought Gai put in a good word for him and allowed him to pass through a different test. Probably some test of strength and endurance.

[@LostPeopleOfEarth158]

I kind of figured Rock Lee only became a ninja because he had Might Gai backing him. Something that makes sense in a way is there are two ways to become a ninja. Graduate the academy which is the modt common. Or be personally trained by a private mentor. Which is what I thought happened with Rock Lee.

[@Swaedabag]

We thought gai had no ninjutsu until he summoned a turtle 15 years after story started lol

[@pkmasterjt4899]

Im 90% sure Might Guy saw lee and PERSONALLY accepted him into his squad, reguardless of the risks it couldve led to. I just wish that they SHOWED that he took a gamble at accepting Lee

[@MagitekBahamuto]

Guy and Rock are so cool, they are super strong and they don't need to use ninja magic to prove themselves.

[@Makyou87]

This is explained in a technically non-canon source that it was essentially an after image rock Lee created that looked like a clone. Though non-canon it’s the only explanation we get so probably the best way to look at it.

[@Junebu99ie]

Off topic, but saying Rock Lee’s intelligence is no where near Shikamaru’s is a bad comparison because nobody’s intelligence can come close to Shikamaru’s. Great video by the way I love Rock Lee and your videos are super detailed and informative!

[@invasiveinqustiorahahahhah548]

my guess is his grad exam when something like: -open to at least the second or third gate -deflect all incoming projectile with taijustsu alone -spar with a chunin either last or defeat him before the timer runs out I think thats enough to get him through the grad exam .

[@APink176]

I recall Rock Lee passing the academy shadow clone test by moving so quickly that he made it appear he made a clone. Like Shisui’s body flicker. I’m not sure if that’s canon or not though.

[@ennardthefuntimepuppet6456]

Rocklee a real ninja because he isn't a wizard like the others

[@gafanhotogamer5993]

You forget that becoming a ninja is something easy. They could've made an exception for Rock Lee easily, but for Naruto, because he was the cursed fox, no one wanted him to become a ninja.

[@TheLovedUnbound]

Maybe they value effort and actual results in the naruto verse. Stark contrast to how our education system and job market measures the value of people.

[@andrewburgess-linden9612]

He Graduated because he used Skits in place of Genjutsu. He's even been able to thwart Orochimaru with these skits