Metal Lee

is a genin of Konohagakure's Lee clan and a member of Team 5.

Background
As Metal's parents continued to stay close to their own childhood friends, Metal ultimately got to know the kids of his parent's respective friends very well. On the day of the Seventh Hokage's inauguration, he watched the ceremony beside his father along with Tenten and Might Guy.

Personality
Metal is a very respectful and honourable young man who tends to talk exclusively without contractions in his words. He apparently gained this nature from his father, Rock Lee, whom he has sincere respect for, and likewise his father's sensei, Might Guy. Also like his father, he is a hot-blooded and dedicated shinobi, exemplified from consistently participating in his father's daily gruesome training regime. At the same time however, he has stage fright, as when too many people watch him, he locks up and becomes unable to move or perform properly. Eventually however, he was able to adjust to his anxiety, no long letting it hinder his performance, despite still being visibly there. Metal also appears to be a well-read individual, as he showed in-depth knowledge of the five current Kage, though ironically, he is unaware of how strong Naruto is.

Appearance
Metal Lee bears a strong resemblance to his father: he has shiny black hair worn in a bowl-cut style, dark eyes, and very thick eyebrows. His eyes, however, are noticeably sharper. His likeness is further perpetuated by his attire: he wears a green jumpsuit with orange leg warmers, a scarf and bandages over his hands. Upon becoming a genin, he began to wear his forehead protector on his belt.

Abilities
Metal specialises in the Strong Fist-style taijutsu, and, when not overwhelmed by his insecurities, lives up to his reputation as a genius even within his taijutsu-excelling clan. He's shown to have great stamina and endurance, able to keep up with his father's daily intense training regiments. Metal also has notably high strength, able to easily pummel rocks with his fists, and deliver fierce kicks. Such strength has allowed him to hold his own against Shinki, losing the fight only because of a technicality. He also has adept reflexes and dexterity. In the anime, while using his natural anxiety to drive him, Metal instinctively fights in a more erratic yet extremely effective manner similar to the Drunken Fist, which proved able to pressure his taijutsu master father in a serious match.

When properly motivated, he can subconsciously open the first of the Eight Gates. Metal is also quite adept at shurikenjutsu, able to effectively aim for targets from behind blind-spots. Unlike his father, Metal Lee is able to externally release his chakra and thereby perform ninjutsu. As such, he is able to effectively perform Cooperation Ninjutsu and Fūinjutsu, able to use both to restrict a person's movements and expand the might of this alongside fellow users.

Academy Entrance Arc
In the anime, on the day of the Academy entrance ceremony, Boruto Uzumaki without warning crashed a train into the Hokage Rock, cancelling the ceremony. Two weeks later, after Boruto's suspension ended and he finally joined the class, he quickly got into a confrontation with the class' top student Iwabee Yuino. As two students began arguing about what it means to be shinobi, they decided to skip class to settle things in fight. Metal joined the rest of the class to watch the fight in a training arena. Ultimately, Boruto and Inojin Yamanaka's respective words resonated with Iwabee, ending the fight. Despite the pleasant ending, Metal and the rest of the class were fiercely scolded later by sensei Anko Mitarashi for skipping class.

Later, as class started learning shurikenjutsu, Metal's social-anxiety started up during practice. Once getting caught up in Boruto Uzumaki's reckless fun, Metal joined some classmates in doing repair work for the Seventh Hokage's stone face as punishment. In Metal's eagerness to impress others, he accidentally caused more damage to the structure. Afterwards, Shikadai Nara made note of his problem, telling Metal to get over it. Deeply troubled by Shikadai's words, Metal walked away solemnly. The following day, a shadowy mist engulfed Metal. Increasing Metal's hostility, he quickly attacked Shikadai on sight, demanding he fight back. With the combined help of Boruto and Inojin, they were able to subdue Metal. As the possessed Metal began to break free, he stumbled over and accidentally knocked himself out, caused the shadowy mist to leave him. Once awakening, Metal was given an apology from Shikadai for his early statements. Metal, oblivious to everything that happened, quickly accepted Shikidai's apology. Once gaining praise for his performance while not getting nervous, Metal insisted that it was because he practises so hard, encouraging his friends to do the same. Later, Metal grows closer to his friends, playing videogames with them.

During a class introducing students to summoning techniques, Boruto got into another argument with Sarada, which spurred a similar argument between all the girls and boys. Ultimately, Shino decided to have the boys and girls settle things with a race challenge for a flag. The challenge quickly got heated, with Metal ultimately getting captured by the girls once his anxiety got in the way again. In the end, the girls won the contest, but despite their victory, the girls made peace with the boys. Later, the class gained a new transfer student from Otogakure named Mitsuki. Wanting the students to warm up to Mitsuki, Shino organised a welcoming party for the new student. When Shino's efforts for the party backfired with his insects, the class began to freak out, with Denki Kaminarimon begging someone to make the insects go away, which Mitsuki did with his Wind Release: Breakthrough, causing even more damage to the Academy.

Later, the class was assigned by Shino to split into groups of three and each tail a different workplace for a few days to better understand non-shinobi life. Metal convinced Inojin into going to the Fire Department. While tailing their work, Metal helped in putting out a fire. However, his social anxiety got the better of him again, causing him to spray the fire hose all over the area. Later, Metal checked on some of his friends after learning that they were hospitalised from a recent attack. Afterwards, he was recruited by Shikadai to go after the culprit. He and his friends then met up at the post office to discuss their plan. After splitting up to patrol the village, the culprit of the attacks unleashed their Shadow Spectre on the post chief Komame. Metal's group however quickly appeared, having anticipated this move as all their recent efforts were clearly being spied on. While half the team stayed to save the possessed Komame, Metal's half pursued the masked culprit. While the post chief was saved, the spectre and the culprit ultimately got away.

Several weeks later, Shino decided to change up the three-man teams for their next challenge to determine the optimum pairings for graduation. Metal was paired up with Boruto and Mitsuki. During their challenge to capture a flag, Shikadai took advantage of Metal's social-anxiety, noting how everyone was watching him. While Metal froze up, Chōchō quickly knocked him out. Shino was then called aside concerning Sumire. As the class began discussing rumours that Sumire was being transferred to a different school, they were relieved to see her return to their class.

When the class was preparing for the Tree Climbing Practice, Denki was the only one in the class who couldn't master the art of climbing through chakra moulding. As Denki continued to practise alone even after class, Metal decided to help Denki, encouraging him to join in a cliff climb. When Denki slipped, he was saved by Rock Lee's timely appearance. The older shinobi was moved by Denki's determination and decided to supervise Denki's training. Afterwards, Metal gave Denki his own jumpsuit, which Metal supported his father in proclaiming its worth.

Sarada Uchiha Arc
During the day of the Kage Summit in Konoha, Metal was rigorously training with his father. As his father emphatically told him that he was in the springtime of his youth, the young man echoes his father's words, much to his father's approval.

School Trip Arc
In the anime, to improve relationships with other villages and symbolically show the warring era was over, the Seventh Hokage set up an official class trip for the Academy to go to Kirigakure. Upon arriving, they were met with Kagura Karatachi, who was appointed by the Mizukage to act as the class' tour guide. The class was later taken to meet Chōjūrō, the Sixth Mizukage, who welcomed the class to the village.

Graduation Exams Arc
As ninja classes began preparing for the graduation exams, Metal met with his teachers and father to discuss his progress and goals for the future. During which, Metal and his father continued their over-enthusiastic training routine.

During the exams, taking up Shino's subtle offer to try stealing the test answers for the written test, Metal and his friends were able to easily pass the test. Later, during the practical and final test, the class was brought to the training field. There, the entire class was set up to face Shino, Anko Mitarashi and Konohamaru for 24 hours. While the teachers would still evaluate the students' respective improvements, the students' true test was against Kakashi Hatake. The Sixth Hokage quickly explained that he would only pass the first student who is able to take the single bell attached to his hip. As the test began, Metal soon found himself under a genjutsu by Anko. He soon after escaped it and joined his friends in facing Anko.

Ultimately, Anko defeated her foes and captured the Ino-Shika-Chō trio. Metal then regrouped with the remaining students. There, Boruto, deeply affected by Kakashi's hard words, Boruto apologised to his friends for "failing" them by dragging their performance down with his lazy attitude. However, Metal and all the others insisted that it was because of Boruto that they overcame so many of their problems. Inspired by Metal and the other students' praise, Boruto realised the truth behind the teaches' deceptions. He then conceived a series of plans to pass the test, which the friends all backed up. Together, they were able to eliminate the other teachers save the students that were captured, the latter of which in turn helped back Boruto's play against Kakashi. They all attacked Kakashi while disguised as Boruto, but the Sixth Hokage easily blocked their assault. This however was a setup, allowing the team to catch Kakashi in a Multiple String Light Formation. While pinning down Kakashi somewhat, he quickly repelled them with his Lightning Release. Ultimately, time ran out. However, despite no one getting the bell, Kakashi passed all the students as they succeeded at the test's true goal; loyalty and team-work.

Genin Mission Arc
In the anime, at the Academy, Metal was placed on Team 5 with Iwabee and Denki. The team personally received their first mission from the Seventh Hokage involving pulling a giant turnip out of the ground, which they succeeded in doing.

Byakuya Gang Arc
With the continued thefts performed by the Byakuya Gang throughout Konohagakure, Team 25 was assigned alongside the other genin teams to help stop the self-proclaimed noble thieves. However, the genin were not permitted to engage the Byakuya Gang without aid from a chūnin or higher-ranked shinobi. Sometime later, Team 5 worked on repairing a bridge. During which, they were alerted to the Byakuya Gang's appearance. Following Iwabee's overzealous nature, Metal and Denki joined their team-mate in engaging the thieves. Ultimately however, the thieves proved too powerful and easily repelled the genin's efforts. During the counterattack, Metal blocked an attack on Denki, but his assist damaged his arm, putting him in the hospital.

Versus Momoshiki Arc
Metal takes part in the Chūnin Exams with his team where they pass the first part of the exam, thus leading his team to the next round. Metal's luck runs out during the second part of the exam when his team encounters Team Shinki. While Metal was fighting Shinki, the latter uses his Iron Sand to steal the flag of Metal's team, eliminating them from the exam, much to Meta's disappointment. He later watches the final round of the exam beside Konohamaru Sarutobi. He and his team-mates cheered for Boruto when he defeated Shinki to win the tournament, but were very distraught when learning that he cheated using an advanced ninja tool, the Kote, which was banned from the Chūnin Exams and thus was disqualified.

When Momoshiki and Kinshiki Ōtsutsuki appeared and began devastating the arena, Denki used his laptop to look up the design of the arena, plotting out the best escape route. Metal was then told where to take spectators. After the attack ended and the Seventh Hokage saved all the lives there at the cost of being captured himself, Metal was sent to the hospital to tend the citizens' injuries. A few days later, after the Ōtsutsuki were defeated and things began returning to normal, Metal helped in repairing the village.

In the anime, as Metal continued to struggle with his anxiety with too much attention on him, Rock decided to teach him the Eight Gates. However, upon seeing his son rely on useless luck trinkets for confidence, he postponed the training, telling Metal that he can't master the Eight Gates as he is now. Metal then met with Might Guy, who saw through Metal's inner struggle. After learning about how Guy got past his grief in his injury and continued to push forward, it made Metal question his faith in his trinkets. Later, Rock challenged Metal to a match, with the condition that there would be a large crowd and if Metal didn't land at least one blow, he would never receive training for the Eight Gates. Against his father, Metal removed his trinkets and fought through all the stares and laughter of the crowd, which in reality boosted his performance. Ultimately, Metal unlocked the first Gate, letting him solidly hit Rock and win. As both Guy and Rock were proud of Metal for facing his problems, Metal finally found pride in himself.

Mitsuki's Disappearance Arc
In the anime, after the apparent betrayal of Mitsuki to Konohakagure and his desertion, the village was put on lockdown. Later, when Boruto approached Metal and his team to see if they had seen Mitsuki, they informed him they hadn't.

As Metal and his team continued their patrol duties during the lockdown, they bumped into a frantic Yurito. He claimed that someone attacked one of the guards in recovery and was rushing to get help, but Udon saw through the lie as Yurito would have sent someone else to report such an act as he was head of the Medical Security. Realising he was found out, Yurito took Denki hostage, only for the genin to escape with a flash bomb. As the team's genin attempted to subdue Yurito, Udon realised that he was under genjutsu. He proceeded to free him. As the man began coming to his senses, a C1 Explosive Clay emerged from his flack jacket, detonating and killing Yurito.

Later, after eavesdropping on the Hokage, Metal and his friends learned of the danger Team 7 was in at Iwagakure. The genin were determined to help their friends and requested to join the Hokage. While Naruto initially refused to put the genin in danger, the group firmly said they will go with or without his approval. Admiring their loyalty to their friends, Naruto decided to let them. Upon arriving at Iwa however, the battle was already won and Team 7 was safe, leaving Metal and the others relieved.

The victory however came at the personal sacrifice of the Third Tsuchikage. While the Konoha-nin wanted to attend the funeral, Naruto sent them all back to Konohagakure.

Naruto Shinden: Parent and Child Day
When Konohagakure began a new annual holiday, Parent and Child Day, Metal spent it with his father Rock. He was also accompanied by Inojin, Shikadai, and their respective fathers. Later, he and Rock entered an eating competition as a team. However, Metal's anxiety at being watched quickly made him vomit, disqualifying the team. After recovering, Metal and his father spent the remainder of the day training together.

Time Slip Arc
In the anime, Metal joined the other genin in testing out new surveillance equipment designed to follow their location. During the field test, Urashiki Ōtsutsuki was spotted in the area, Metal joined several other Konoha-nin in pursuing him. However, this turned out to be division by the alien, who placed a genjutsu on them to let him sneak into the village.

Later, some time after Urashiki was finally defeated, when Sumire Kakei resigned from her genin team to join the Scientific Ninja Weapons Team, Metal joined his friends in a farewell party for the former class rep.

Mujina Bandits Arc
When Konohamaru wanted Boruto to come to him, Metal informed him of Konohamaru's request.

Kara Actuation Arc
In the anime, after Team 7 was defeated by Deepa, Metal and his team went to check on Boruto who was recovering in the hospital. While Metal was especially nervous about his friends well-being, they were surprised to see how relaxed and upbeat the two were. While everyone else was happy about, Iwabee grew concerned, and feared that their friends lost the will to be shinobi. When Metal and his friends went to check on Boruto and Sarada, they were horrified to see that they secretly left the hospital. Iwabee came to the new conclusion that Boruto and Sarada were looking for revenge against for what happened to Mitsuki. Sakura deduced that the two would meet up with Konohamaru to join him on his undercover mission. Upon arriving, the group was relieved to see that Boruto and Sarada had resolved to leave the mission to the jōnin for now and instead focus on getting strong enough to rejoin the battlefield.

After learning that Boruto was hospitalised following a match against Shojoji, Team 5 visited him. In the hospital, they met a patient named Nattō, who was causing trouble for the staff. Learning that they were shinobi, Nattō asked them to get an autograph from Orochimaru on his Extreme: Shinobi Picture Scrolls trading card. They initially refused, but later agreed to it upon learning of Nattō's upcoming surgery, which he was dreading. Finding out Orochimaru's location from the Hokage's office records, they were warned to be very careful by a Konoha jōnin who was filling in for Yamato in monitoring Orochimaru. They stumbled on Suigetsu, and began fight him, only to be overwhelmed. Orochimaru stopped the fight, and while incredulous of their intention, autographed the card anyway. Team 5 returned the card to Nattō, and admitted they were scared to do it, noting that one needs to be brave, inspiring him to have his surgery.

Later, after Mitsuki recovered and returned to the village, Metal's team worked on a new experiment of Denki's to improve on wireless communication technology. He and Iwabee were tasked with piloting a hot air balloon high enough. The experiment was technically a success as they increase the range of communication, but would still need to figure a way to stabilise the signal, as the balloon was incapable of staying in the air too long to sustain transmissions.

Ao Arc
In the anime, Metal attended the memorial service for the fallen people of the Fourth Shinobi World War. Later, at the Training Hall, Metal watched Boruto fight the Seventh Hokage alongside other genin.

Kawaki Arc
In the anime, when Kawaki was brought to the village for his ties to Kara, it was decided that the boy would be treated as a guest in the Hokage's home. Metal and his friends soon met him. Over time, Kawaki began warming up to everyone, even learning how to play Extreme: Shinobi Picture Scrolls. Later, as Metal and his friends were playing more, the group began discussing their views on Kawaki, Metal feeling they could trust him.

Prior to the villag's attack by Jigen, word spread that a village archive was attacked and data on shinobi was stolen. Metal and his team-mates were impressed to hear later that Team 10 were able to stop the culprit, Koji Kashin, from stealing more data.

Chūnin Re-Examination Arc
In the anime, following Isshiki's attack, Naruto decided to host another Chūnin Exam to boost morale and promote more chūnin. Metal and his team passed the first, written exam. During the second exam, his anxiety got the better of him and he was disqualified, the only member of his team not to advance to the final exam. Despite his dismay at failing, Metal decided to help his team-mates prepare for the finals. The following day, they went to the Scientific Ninja Weapons Team's facilities to test Denki's new creation as such tools created personally by the user were now permitted in the exams. Metal faced off against Denki, only to be soundly defeated. During the final exam, Metal watched on the stands to cheer on his team-mates. He checked on Iwabee before his match against Wasabi, Iwabee firing himself up. He cheered for Iwabee in his match, but he lost. In the final match, Metal Lee cheered on Denki against Tsubaki. He and Iwabee celebrated his victory over her, using a power suit of his own making and Lightning Release. He and his team later joined Team 15, celebrating Denki's and Wasabi's promotions at the Lightning Burger.

Path to Becoming a Ninja Arc
In the anime, Kawaki was being tested to earn qualification as a genin. One of his missions was along Team 5. Completing the mission, the boy showed little interest, falling asleep as Denki's plan was executed, leading to Metal getting a small injury.

Trivia

 * Metal Lee's name is derived from the metal musical genre and is a play on Bruce Lee, whose given name is pronounced the same as blues in Japanese. It is a continuation of the pun established with his father, Rock Lee.