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“Guy ... .the surgery ... .it was a failure.”
The rest of Tsunade’s words became a buzz, her lips moving voicelessly. Might Guy stood, paralyzed with shock. He felt almost as if roots had sprouted from the ground like Lord First’s wood style justu, pulling his body down to the floor. He knelt under the pressure.
This couldn’t be real. It had to be a genjustu. This all has to have been one. Guy’s hand turned into a fist. Lee…..his prized student.....
No.
He was more than just Guy’s student.
Lee was like his son.
Guy’s nails bit into his hand, drawing blood. Memories began flooding back to him relentlessly, like enemy kunai.
A young Lee, practicing taijustu, a determined look on his face as Guy spurred him on. Lee, overcome with joy at Guy gifting him his very own green suit like his. Lee, challenging Neji to yet another battle, training ever the more harder when he lost. Lee, getting injured at the Chuinin exams. Finally his wary smile as they put him under for surgery, never to surface again.
His breathing quickened. Guy couldn’t help but fixate on the little moments they had together, the training, the building of bonds. Did he ever tell Lee how proud he was of him? Of how far he’d come? Yet that determined, ever-smiling boy was gone. Buried under a late snow in what should’ve been the glorious springtime of his youth. Tears welled up in Guy’s eyes and spilled freely, though he squeezed them in an effort to make it stop. He hit the floor with his fist, sending fissures through the ground.
“W-why….how could this be?....” Guy’s body racked with sobs. “I should’ve never let him do the surgery! What was I thinking??”
Tsunade stooped down and laid a hand on his shoulder. “I’m sorry for your loss, Guy. I truly am. But you believed in your student, as would any sensei. Don’t take this on yourself.”
Guy shook his head, sending tear droplets flying in every direction. Belief! For all his belief, for all his hope, Lee still died. Belief……Guy clutched his head. That memory, of convincing Lee to do the surgery, played in his head, over and over, like a loop. Seeing Lee in despair was too much to bear, but something stood out like a shining beacon of light. A certain promise he had made.
Tsunade spoke again. “Guy, I know this is a tough time for you, but there are people who can help-“
“Stop it, Tsunade.” Suddenly, Guy stood, and Tsuande pulled back her hand. He sniffed once, willing back all the tears, the sadness. He wore a look of determination laced with despair. Tsunads’s insides went cold. She had seen that look before, in many different times. She knew what he was planning. “Guy-“
“Today….my nindo….died. What is a ninja without his ninja way? Nothing.” Guy clutched his heart. “A ninja cannot live without it.” Tears formed again. “No one could.”
He turned, and walked out of the waiting room. Kakashi stood nearby. He didn’t have his book, Guy noticed. He never forgot his book.
After seeing the despair in his face, Kakashi knew what had happened.
“I’m sorry, Guy. There’s no words to explain it.”
Kakashi laid a hand on his shoulder. “It seems painful now, but you have to keep living, for Lee.”
Guy stared at him blankly. Kakashi blanched. He had never seen Guy like this. The light was gone from his eyes. It was like he was dead already.
“My ninja way…..is….WAS….to teach Lee. To follow him. And that’s what any good sensei would do.”
“Guy! I won’t let you leave if ....that’s... what you plan to do.”
A log of wood appeared in Guy’s place. A substitution!
Darkness ate his retreating shadow and swallowed him into the cold night.
After Lee had been lowered into the frozen ground, after kind words and tears were shed and everyone departed, a man still lingered by the grave. He touched the engraving, inscribed "Rock Lee - a great ninja, student, and friend" and traced the words with his fingertips. Almost imperceptibly, he murmured:
“And on the 1 in 1,000….no, 1 in 1,000,000 chance something should happen to go wrong….I will die along with you.”
A gust of air blew in, and the man was gone.
No one ever saw or heard from Might Guy again.