[closed; private meeting with the Hokage]

[awokentospring]

Who: Rock Lee and Uchiha Obito
When: February 24th, morning
Where: The Hokage's Office
What: Lee meets with the Hokage to discuss what he found out while in the Land of Demons.

Lee made sure he was the first in line to meet with the Hokage as soon as his office was open. That is, Lee woke up early, had time to make himself breakfast, train, get cleaned up, and still had time to be waiting for the Hokage to make his appearance. Some things never changed, even when one had worked themselves into exhaustion the day before.

Now sporting some fresh bandages and a clean, unscathed body suit on, Lee hardly looked like he had any difficulties on his mission but that was hardly the case. Still, he had made it out alive and without any vital injuries to his person. A good result for the most part. If only he had been more secretive when he had attempted to make his escape...

Comments

[awokentospring]

A good face? Him? Even Gai-sensei never really said that to him so Lee felt a little uncomfortable with such praise. He couldn't believe it to be true, though he knew now that what Obito was proposing wasn't meant as a joke. This was serious.

And everything he said about beauty being in the eye of the beholder was certainly true enough. But no one had ever considered his style something of beauty, even if he was Konoha's beautiful green beast. It wasn't the same type of beauty.

"... No, you are not wrong there, Hokage-sama. I am very, very dedicated to always doing my absolute best no matter what challenge is presented to me." But was he really cut out for this? It seemed he still lacked some self-confidence and that made such a task overwhelming.

"If it pleases you, Hokage-sama, may I... consider it for a while? I am not sure if I could say I would make the correct decision as I am right now."

[thebestuchiha]

Obito was quiet for a moment, inclining his head to him. "Even if you do take the training, and it is entirely up to you to decide if you will accept, know that you can still change your mind on taking the missions themselves. It's happened before, and I don't doubt it will happen again in the future. I have no desire to break my shinobi."

[awokentospring]

"So it will all be on my terms?" That was... different. Most of the time if you were assigned a mission you just went with it, because that meant you were chosen specifically for your skill set. But to be able to turn things down, without some medical excuse, that seemed wrong.

[thebestuchiha]

"Not exactly. However, if you take a mission of a certain kind within this set after completing training, and find yourself in a state that means you don't think you would be comfortable doing it again, then you won't be forced to. The thing with Seduction Intelligence is that ease in your own skin is vital. Those who are willing happens to often be a short list, and giving them missions that are not within tolerance would break them quickly. Some places may be willing to use and throw away their people in that manner, but I will not allow Konoha to be one of them."

[awokentospring]

Lee nodded, feeling he understood the logic behind it. It was kind of Obito to consider his shinobi's wellbeing like that. Lee knew quite well that not all Kage cared that deeply about foot soldiers.

"Alright. Thank you again for your patience, Hokage-sama. I will do my best to not keep you waiting too long on my answer." For now, Lee wasn't sure what to think about extra training. He was usually all about it, but he knew it would certainly not be the kind of training he was used to.

[thebestuchiha]

"Of course. Take your time. I don't want a rushed answer you'll regret." He nodded toward the door. "But if you wish to talk to me before then, my door is open to you."

[awokentospring]

Despite his sensei and the Hokage being close Lee had never sought to take advantage of that relationship for his own gains. And it seemed like that had never needed to be the case if Obito had such hopes for him.

Still conflicted on his decision, but happy to have been approached with the idea, Lee bowed politely and smiled. "I appreciate your consideration, Hokage-sama. I will keep in touch."

And with that, Lee moved to take his leave.

[thebestuchiha]

Satisfied, he just smiled and turned back to his work, certain he'd hear back with an answer eventually. Time would tell which way that answer would fall.