Board Thread:Naruto Discussions/@comment-26993711-20160215010912/@comment-734582-20160216112056

TheOneWhoLovesNaruto wrote: Lee had been saving and hiding many of his abilities for the time when he would fight Neji again. It wouldn't surprise me. Considering that Neji wasn't aware of what Lee could do vs Gaara, yes it's likely Lee was saving up on his techniques to hopefully surprise Neji and defeat him, especially considering Neji's arrogance.

It's not clear if he truly was strong enough yet, but the weights and Eight Gates techniques were clearly not used against Neji yet.