Chapter 10

For a moment they stayed in that position. Lee's face was no longer red with the power of the gates, but had returned to its normal color. His feet were grasping the knife only inches from his heart, the stanine trying to force the kunai into the boy's chest. There they stood, boy and man, ninja and killer, warrior and warrior. The stanine hated the boy for all he put him through, and yet. There was something about him he just had to respect. The boy, the child was holding his own against him, and not giving up. Most ANBU would have died or fled crying for their lives, begging for his nonexistent mercy. It was almost a shame to have to kill him, almost.

The stanine backed away quickly, leaving the kunai in the boy's feet. Lee was his name? Yes, that's what everyone called him, Lee. Lee threw away the knife and immediately stopped moving.

So, he still was unconscious and merely acting out of reflex. The stanine had complimented his fast reflexes before, but only now realized that he gave him no credit, compared to what was due.

The stanine's mind began to slowly interpret this. After all he had the time. The boy was only acting out of reflex. He still can't make any decisions on his own. The stanine was struck by inspiration. The boy could only deal with one threat at a time, two at the most.

He took out two kunai and threw them high above Lee one after the other so that they would land at different times. He then proceeded to attack him. Lee blocked all of his attacks one after the other, but the kunai were falling fast, and his reflexes were all focused on keeping the stanine at bay. He wouldn't survive the attack.

'Pity,' thought the stanine, 'If I hadn't killed my wife, this is what I would have hoped my son had been like. Oh well, it was a good fight, ninja.'

"Dispel!" shouted a small feminine voice.

The stanine immediately looked over at blonde haired girl, but she was still unconscious. At that point he made a grave mistake, and paid for it with a massive punch in the face that sent him sprawling backward into a tree, Lee had awakened.

Lee smiled as the stanine got up in pain, but before a sparkle could appear, it vanished as Lee heard a slight whistling through the air. He dodged out of the way just as two kunai hit the ground one after the other.

Lee would have sighed in relief, but the stanine kicked him in the face before he could do anything. Lee slid across the ground for a few seconds before finally coming to a stop.

"Fifth Gate, Release!" shouted Lee, his skin becoming red again, and his now long black hair standing straight up.

The stanine laughed, "You are only a match for me when you release the sixth gate! You cannot hope to defeat me at the same gate level," said the stanine, his own red skin making him look even more menacing.

"My sensei taught me that no matter the odds, there is always a way to win!" Lee cried out.

"Your sensei?" said the stanine in mock laughter, trying to keep Lee talking while he was gaining his strength. "Your sensei is a fool, an arrogant, over-hyped, and badly dressed fool!"

"Gai-sensei is the smartest dresser in all of Konoha!" Lee shouted back, his anger growing. 'No one makes fun of Gai-sensei's clothes! No one!' Even his thoughts were etched in anger.

"Whatever, you seem to be delusional, probably the fault of your sensei. No wonder why you can't learn ninjutsu and genjutsu techniques. With a sensei like that I'm surprised you know which end of the kunai knife is sharp."

The stanine didn't know it but he had enraged Lee to the point where Lee would kill innocent people just to get at him. Lee let out a scream of rage. "HOW DARE YOU TALK ABOUT GAI-SENSEI THAT WAY!"

"SIXTH GATE, RELEASE!"

Power was surging around Lee now. The stanine could only gasp and say, "Uh-oh," before he was kicked into the air.

"I'LL BURY YOU!" shouted Lee. He started to hit the stanine around in the air. "FOUR STEP MURDER!" shouted Lee. "STEP ONE, KONOHA BARRAGE!" Lee knocked down the stanine with his heel, sending him crashing into the earth.

Lee then rocketed down toward the stanine. "KONOHA MASSACRE!" Lee punched the stanine in the face then rapidly punched him everywhere else. Blood was coughed up in Lee's face, but he was too far gone to care.

He used the stanine's stomach to launch upward into the air, causing more blood to be coughed up. He then gathered the chakra surrounding him and used it to turn himself upside down, and then to spin rapidly, as he took out all eight of his remaining kunai.

"KONOHA'S TARGET OF KNIVES!" cried Lee as he fell downward, straight toward the stanine. He then used some of his chakra and spun it around the blades. He threw them down and used the chakra to make them spin rapidly just as he was.

The stanine saw these kunai heading toward him and threw shuriken and kunai of his own to intercept them, but Lee's knives were spinning so fast that they only bounced off, not affecting them at all.

The stanine's eyes widened as they all hit him forming a perfect circle on his stomach.

Lee came out of his spin and used all of his remaining chakra to propel himself forward.

"No," said the stanine, "No! No! NO!"

"KONOHA BURIAL!" shouted Lee punching the stanine right in the center of the ring of kunai, were blooding was flowing freely.

The stanine went straight through the ground, making not a crater, but a hole. As he feel the dirt from the sides of the hole feel onto him, covering him, burying him alive.

Lee jumped away just as the dirt was about to bury him too, and landed a couple of feet from the hole. There he collapsed, his face returned to normal and his hair now hanging from his shoulders instead of standing up straight. It was finally over. He had fulfilled his way of the ninja and beaten one of the most dangerous people in all the world.

"Lee, your fight is not yet over," said a voice from the shadows behind a tree. A voice he knew all too well.

He glanced over at the figure emerging from the trees and being revealed as…