Never apologize for a well thought out argument [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-tongue.gif[/img] I'll try to answer this in sections cuz you covered a lot of ground.

First, the potential thing. Rock Lee will never, ever be able to use ninjutsu or genjutsu. If you consider the ninja's potential as the sum of their max abilities in ninjutsu, genjutsu and taijutsu, then the example becomes more like my cup example, unless Rock Lee's taijutsu potential is so incredibly awesome that it surpases the potential of most normal ninjas (I doubt that). Plus, it was already stated that rock's taijutsu was subpar. Who knows what it says for his potential though, because I'm not sure if they meant that it was subpar at the time, or in general. The only way your example would fit better is if you limit it to taijutsu alone. Even then, the rates at which they advance can easily be interpreted as potentials in your example (not mine).

About the weights rock was wearing: Sure rock has a weight limit to how much he can carry before he kills himself. He's probably even stronger than sasuke. But that's not important. The potential considering here is not just physical strenght, but all things important to a ninja. Even limiting it to taijutsu, strenght is just one factor that affects it. There's speed, awareness, reflexes, etc. How those things interact is what determines potential. If someone can combine all those characteristics to greater effect than someone #2 can, someone #1 has greater potential.

You're totally right about Sakura.



EDIT TO JESPER: You said "Your kidding right? Thats like saying a 15 year old sprinter became as fast at running as a gold medal winning 500 meter runner and because the 15 year old can sprint as fast as the other guy runs he could run as good as the medal winner if he had focused on doing 500 meter runs. Also, would Sasuke obviously be able to open 5 gates? "

No. I'm not kidding. Sasuke learned the bulk of Lee's taijutsu in a month. So yeah, that's ALMOST what I'm saying, because that's ALMOST exactly what happened, minus the fact that the difference between Sasuke and Rock Lee really wasn't as great as the difference between the people in your example.

No, it is not obvious that Sasuke can can open 5 gates like Rock Lee, depends on his taijutsu potential. But, what is apparent, is that Sasuke would be better at taijutsu in general (even if he can't master the same techniques) than rock lee would given the same time training, and the same focus in taijutsu training.