Metal Lee

is a genin of Konohagakure's Lee clan.

Background
As Metal Lee'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 hot-blooded and dedicated shinobi, much like his father Rock Lee, who he has sincere respect for, and his father's sensei Might Guy. This was exemplified when he was seen participating in his father's gruesome training regime. At the same time, Lee seems to suffer from social-anxiety, always worrying about people's views of him and wanting to impress others. He also seems to have stage-fright, as when too many people watch him, he locks up and becomes unable to move or perform properly. Metal also appears to be a well-read individual, as he showed in-depth knowledge of the five current Kage.

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.

Abilities
Lee 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. Lee 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.

While under the influence of dark chakra, he has demonstrated the ability to open at least three of the Eight Gates. Lee is also quite adept at shurikenjutsu, able to effectively aim for targets from behind blind-spots.

Academy 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. Lee 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, Lee and the rest of the class were fiercely scolded later by sensei Anko Mitarashi for skipping class.

Weeks later, as class started learning shurikenjutsu, Lee's social-anxiety started up during practice. Once getting caught up in Boruto Uzumaki's reckless fun, Lee joined some classmates in doing repair work for the Seventh Hokage's stone face as punishment. In Lee'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 Lee. Increasing Lee's hostility, he quickly attacked Shikidai on sight, demanding he fight back. With the combined help of Boruto and Inojin, they were able to subdue Metal. As the possessed Lee began to break free, he stumbled over and accidentally knocked himself out, caused the shadowy mist to leave him. Once awakening, Lee was given an apology from Shikadai for his early comments. Lee, 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 practices so hard, encouraging his friends to do the same. Later, Lee 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 spared 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 Lee 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. Lee conviced Ionjin in gong to the Fire Department. While tailing their work, Lee helped in putting out a fire. However, his social anxiety got the better of him again, causing him to spray the fire hose all about the area. Later, Lee 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 his Shadow Spectre on the post chief Komame. Lee'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, Lee'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. Lee was paired up with Boruto and Mitsuki. During their challenge to capture a flag, Shikadai took advantage of Lee's social-anxiety, noting how everyone was watching him. While Lee 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 practice 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, Lee gave Denki his own jumpsuit, which Metal supported his father in proclaiming its worth.

During the day of the Kage Summit in Konoha, Lee 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.

Versus Momoshiki Arc
Lee 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. Lee's luck runs out during the second part of the exam when his team encounters Team Shinki. While Lee was fighting Shinki, the latter uses his Iron Sand to steal the flag of Metal's team, eliminating them from the exam, much to Lee's disappointment. He later watches the final round of the exam beside Konohamaru Sarutobi.

Mujina Bandits Arc
Lee appears in this arc.

Post-Mujina Bandits Arc
Lee appears in this arc.

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 continuiation of the pun established with his father, Rock Lee.