The Naruto anime is a classic shonen tale that inspires viewers with messages about reaching for one’s dreams and never giving up, despite the odds. Protagonist Naruto Uzumaki embodies these messages well, and some side characters did too, such as the martial artist Rock Lee. However, Rock Lee’s character arc fell flat, and it was doomed to fail from the start.
Rock Lee had his moments in Naruto and is still an inspiring and memorable shonen anime character, but in some ways, his “hard work beats talent” narrative rang hollow, and the anime was hypocritical about it. Rock Lee never could have been the next Naruto Uzumaki because he was missing some key elements, and no taijutsu technique could make up for that.
Rock Lee Was Just A Novelty For The Chunin Exam
Rock Lee made his debut in the legendary Chunin Exam arc, a gathering of everyone who was someone in Naruto at the time. This story introduced Teams 8, 10, and Guy, with Team Guy’s standout member being Rock Lee, with Neji Hyuga in a close second. Rock Lee made a strong impression as a passionate, fearless Leaf ninja who relied entirely on taijutsu to fight, and even the gifted Sasuke Uchiha was impressed by what he saw. Aside from providing some great fight scenes against the Sound Genin and Gaara, Rock Lee provided a new benchmark for taijutsu, giving Naruto and Sasuke an unofficial rival to catch up with. Indeed, Sasuke borrowed heavily from Rock Lee’s style before his final fight in the chunin exam.
Rock Lee shined in the chunin exam arc for many reasons, from his refreshingly blunt and honest personality to his emotionally charged, brutal duel against Gaara of the Sand. Rock Lee was poised to become Naruto‘s best taijutsu expert and a parallel to Naruto Uzumaki himself as an underdog character who could achieve anything, but the Naruto anime didn’t follow through. Rock Lee was partially written out of the story with his grievous injuries, and his role in the anime was greatly diminished after that. He helped Naruto fight Kimimaro Kaguya, but he needed Gaara to finish the job, and Rock Lee had only a minor supporting role in Naruto Shippuden.
Rock Lee was lightning in a bottle in the Chunin Exam arc, promising to beat Naruto at his own game as a rising star to inspire Naruto fans everywhere. Looking back, Rock Lee was little more than a narrative tool, a way for Naruto to excite fans with a great fight with sympathetic themes and the novelty of an all-or-nothing taijutsu master. That doesn’t make Rock Lee’s character worthless – he still resonated with fans and contributed something to the narrative. However, this also gave Naruto fans false hope about Rock Lee’s arc, and after the chunin exam, there was little reason to keep track of Lee’s arc and watch his progress. But that’s not Rock Lee’s fault.
Rock Lee Hit An Early Plateau
Like Naruto Uzumaki himself, Rock Lee had everything to prove and the willpower to do it as a youth. Rock Lee wasn’t hated for being a jinchuriki and had a father figure in Might Guy, but Rock Lee was still an underdog with plenty to gain, and he knew it. Rock Lee fell into despair when he hit a wall with taijutsu alone, losing repeatedly to Neji Hyuga in practice duels. Then Might Guy turned all that around with passionate and intense training, and Rock Lee eagerly absorbed it all, to the point he adopted the same haircut and outfit as his jonin mentor. Rock Lee’s self-esteem and confidence soared, and he became the assertive, optimistic taijutsu powerhouse Team 7 met in the Forest of Death.
Unlike Naruto‘s arc, though, Rock Lee’s personal arc hit an early plateau, since training under Might Guy was the only major change Rock Lee had room for. Fighting with taijutsu alone to get results is impressive, but even Rock Lee can’t overcome the fact that in Naruto‘s shinobi world, it’s a dead end. Aside from honing his technique a bit more, Rock Lee had no more room for growth and change, and he had no lofty goals, either. Rock Lee just wanted to be more like Might Guy to get stronger and feel good about himself, and he succeeded at that by age 13. Rock Lee may have been set up to be Naruto Uzumaki‘s taijutsu-only parallel, but in the end, he was just there to reinforce a theme and perhaps make Naruto look even better by comparison. His job was done, and his rapidly diminishing role in the Naruto anime reflected that.
Naruto‘s & Rock Lee’s Arcs Are Built On Hypocrisy
Naruto Uzumaki and Rock Lee were both written as underdogs who overcame other people’s immense talent with hard work and faith in oneself, almost like a sports movie like Rocky. During the Chunin Exam arc, Naruto and Rock Lee both embodied this theme well and were neck and neck, but Naruto Uzumaki soon pulled ahead, while Rock Lee, by design, fell behind and became irrelevant. Naruto Uzumaki, as the protagonist, will of course experience more growth and accomplish more than a side character like Rock Lee. But Naruto also had in-universe advantages over Rock Lee that are downright unfair, and they make the “hard work beat all” theme hypocritical.
Unlike Rock Lee, who only had taijutsu and willpower to guide him, Naruto actually was born with great talent that he simply had to discover along the way. Even if Naruto was written to work hard to actually unlock these gifts, he still had them. He was born with Kurama’s enormous chakra, and Naruto could use it to summon the mighty Gamabunta, get a biju cloak, and even unlock Super Saiyan-style forms just because he was born with the right stuff. Naruto was also descended from Asura while Sasuke traced his lineage back from Indra, the two sons of Hagoromo.
That made them both children of destiny, meaning Naruto‘s “work my way up from nothing” narrative seems ludicrous when Naruto was born with Kurama’s chakra in one hand and a prophesied destiny in the other. Rock Lee was the true Rocky Balboa underdog of Naruto who earned everything he had, and he could have shone as the star of a martial arts manga along the same vein as Hajime no Ippo. But that wasn’t the fate Naruto gave him, making Rock Lee’s potential forever wasted for the sake of a brief chunin exam miracle.
