Chapter 58 - Chuunin Exams Second Phase [5]

Lee looked calmly towards Gaara, that was just standing there motionlessly while looking towards the green-clothed youngster in a cold manner, then, Hayate said ''Begin!''

Without further warning, Lee ran towards Gaara, that was still there, one of Lee's hands were on his back while the other was raised right in front of him, then, he sent a barrage of punches, that was effortlessly blocked by Gaara's sand.

''What? He's blocking Lee attacks so easily?'' Sakura was shocked, she had fought against Lee once in one of the many times Team Kakashi and Team Gai trained together, thus, she knew that even his regular punches weren't something that could be so easily blocked.

Temari, at the side, smirked while feeling a little proud, despite Gaara disregarding their blood relationship, both her and Kankuro still think of him as their dear brother ''That's Gaara's Sand, it moves automatically to defend him, almost like it is intelligent.''

'Interesting, I wonder if pure speed is able to ignore it? It needs to be fast enough to defend, without the weights, would he be able to pass through that defense? Finally, an interesting fight!' Naruto thought as unknowingly, a small smile appeared on his face, those who knew him well were speechless because they knew that smile was an excited, sadistic and curious one.

Frowning after seeing all of his attacks being blocked, Lee took out his Kunai, that spun lightly under the movements of his fingers before cutting the Sand coming towards him.

'It seems I'll need to increase my speed!' Lee thought before his speed suddenly increased, his figure blurred slightly as the Sand also increased its reaction, doing all it could to defend, Gaara narrowed his cold eyes slightly before deciding to attack too.

His hand moved and so did the Sand, that followed Lee everywhere, the green-clothed frowned once again before looking over his Sensei, that smirked, a sign of confirmation, flipping a few times before standing in a strange structure, Lee removed two weights from his legs before saying ''Ah! I feel free, so comfortable!''

Though his way of saying it was slightly strange and doubtful, the weights started to fall down under everyone's stare, Temari snorted ''Does he really think this will help him bypass Gaara's defense? A-AH!'' she said before gasping in shock after seeing the huge sound produced by the contact of the weight with the ground.

'He'll be defeated.' Naruto thought, his mind was imagining all of the fight possibilities 'The abilities Gaara showed so far, even if his defense is broken, I can feel it, he's just playing with Lee, even if Lee manages to somehow break his own limits, he'll lose.'

The blonde teenager was extremely sure of the fight and how it would turn out, Naruto is sure that Lee would use the Eight Gates but will end up losing, sighing, he said before going to sleep ''Nii-san, when this fight ends, wake me up. Lee will lose.''

Kakashi nodded under the shocked stares of Gai, Sasuke, Sakura, Haku, Neji and Tenten, the Bushy Brows-sensei frowned slightly ''Aren't you underestimating Lee too much, Naruto?'' he said.

Naruto, that was almost sleeping, said ''No, I've fought Lee recently and I know his limits, Gaara is just playing around with him, I've already thought of all possibilities, even the possibility of Lee breaking his own limits, if that happens, both will be seriously injured but Gaara has a natural advantage, he would still be able to manipulate his sand and wouldn't hesitate to kill Lee.'' his speech was long but it made sense.

Then, Naruto made a request that shocked Kakashi ''If that comes to happen, Lee won't give up even though I warned him, so, Bushy Brows, as soon as you see that he's unable to fight while Gaara is still able to fight, don't hesitate to remove him from the field.''

'Naruto is asking Gai to save Lee in case something happens? That's... impressive and surprising of him.' Kakashi thought, he's the one that knows his brother the best, just the fact he asked this was a sign that Lee is considered his friend.

Despite feeling that Naruto is underestimating Lee, Gai agreed, after that, the blue-eyed teenager slept. [1]

'Naruto being Naruto, when something is not interesting enough, he do something like that...' Kakashi thought funnily before going back to watch Lee's fight.

The minutes passed by as the fight went on, Lee had activated the Third Gate, leaving both him and Gaara seriously injured, however, even though Gaara's sand was slowly approaching him body that couldn't even move properly, he didn't give up.

Gai frowned 'Just as Naruto predicted, is he a prophet?' he thought before interfering, he appeared before the Sand and with a wave of his hand, it was blocked ''Lee can't fight anymore, the winner is Gaara.'' he said before picking up Lee's body and calling up the Medical Ninjas.

With a doubt-filled voice, Gaara asked ''Why... why do you save him? Why?''

''Because he's my disciple, Lee is... important to me, I wouldn't let anything happen to him!'' Gai said while thanking himself for hearing Naruto's advice, if not, he wouldn't have interfered with the fight.

Kakashi woke the blonde teenager up, Naruto was greeted by Gai, that asked him ''How did you know that this would happen?''

''It's simple, Gaara's eyes, they are the eyes of someone that would kill without reason, his eyes are completely cold, I can feel his murderous intent, if it wasn't you, he would've broken Lee's body before killing him.'' Naruto said as if were obvious things, without further warning, he went downstairs, they were called back to the field, after all.

Behind him, all Jounins except Kakashi were shocked.

''The Genins that passed the preliminary exam are here, Naruto Uzumaki, Sasuke Uchiha, Sakura Haruno, Gaara, Temari, Kankuro, Hensuke Uchiha, Dosu Kinuta, Shikamaru Nara, Neji Hyuuga, Hinata Hyuuga and Haku! There'll be a time between the Second Phase and the Third Phase, in one month, within Konohagakure's Great Arena, the Third and last Phase will happen, think of this time as one to improve your own abilities!''

Hiruzen said because Hayate wasn't feeling well, his condition had worsened, hearing his words, everyone nodded, including the seriously injured Gaara, that could now stand up, even if he had wounds all over his body.

Like that, Naruto, Haku and Kakashi went home, no more time wasted.

[1] I didn't want to repeat the fight, in this AU (Alternative Universe), Rock Lee is indeed stronger due to Naruto's rivalry, however, he's just slightly stronger, not enough to change the original fight, as such, I only mentioned the first part of the battle, stay tuned because the next few chapters will show one of the most loved Naruto's characters!

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