A/N: Well, this was meant to be out on May 1st. This is it, I guess. Just a chapter featuring the amazing battle of Gaara and Rock Lee. Do you want to know something I learned after a little while of writing this? Sometimes, people get impatient waiting for another update and I get all nervous about an update, so I get a massive block, even when I'm just twisting canon. Well, I signed up for it, so I can blame myself.

Lee rose up his right hand, keeping his fingers straight. He watched intently as Gaara pulled out the cork to his gourd and threw it to Lee, making Hayate smirk.

"There is no need to get antsy," Lee said.

"Now, ninth match, Gaara versus Lee, begin!" Hayate announced.

In a second, Lee moved over to Gaara, using his Konoha Senpū. He was stopped in mid-attack, not connecting with his target as it was blocked by a sand coming from the gourd, capturing his shin.

He…uses sand? Lee watched as more sand came from the gourd. He felt the power of the sand that pushed him back.

While Lee skid on the ground, he saw glimpses of the light sand before he quickly regained balance, rushing toward his opponent. Lee bared his teeth as he pulled back his fist.

When he was close to connecting, a wall of sand blocked him from doing so. Lee followed his attack with swift kick, which was obstructed by the sand again.

He drew back, staring intently at his adversary. He's not even moving. Not even his eyes.

"Why doesn't Lee use ninjutsu? Taijutsu obviously won't work on this guy," Sasuke said.

"Lee can't use genjutsu or ninjutsu. He can't utilize his chakra in those forms." Gai looked at his student.

"How did he even make it this far?" Sasuke wondered.

"Some of the shinobi are unable to use genjutsu and taijutsu. Lee is only one of them," Gain answered.

Lee's eyes widened as sand erupted quickly, striking him in the torso upward. From the air, he moved to be able to see Gaara as he landed on the index finger of the statue in the room. He stared at Gaara, appearing to be calculating a plan.

"And that's why he's going to win! Go, Lee!" Gai did his 'Nice Guy' pose to Lee. "Take them off!"

Lee saluted. "But Gai-sensei, you told me only to use it when protecting many precious people!"

Keeping his stance, Gai added, "It's all right, Lee. I allow it!"

With a nod, Lee kneeled down and started to take off what was concealed under his leg warmers. They looked like weights as he put them next to his, now easier to move, feet. "Now I can move easier!"

Heh, there's still no way he can beat Gaara, even with less weight. Temari smirked.

In a moment, there were two explosions, parallel to each other in front of where Lee stood. Gai grinned as the test takers were shocked, especially Gaara's siblings. He rose up two fingers and pointed them to Lee. "Go for it!"

"Yes, Gai-sensei!" Lee appeared behind Gaara in a flash, almost as if he was teleporting over there.

Gaara was alarmed as he saw Lee over his shoulder, fist drawn back. As soon as his hand moved closer to hit Gaara, it was stopped by the sand he commanded. Lee launched another hit, being captured in around the sand, as did his other fist, directed toward Gaara's torso, and a kick that stayed in front of the Jinchūriki's face.

Gaara looked surprised at the simple fact that Lee was moving so quickly.

"Since he couldn't do genjutsu or ninjutsu, he spent all of his time working on his taijutsu. He'll never lose at this rate because he's a taijutsu specialist," Gai said.

Lee copied Gaara's stance, arms extended. As Gaara started to manipulate his sand, Lee moved over, doing a twirl to Gaara before he was in front of him, still in the air. With great speed, he knocked down Gaara's head with his heel.

Temari looked in wonder at Lee. He…actually lasted this long?

As Lee drew back, smirking at his enemy, Gaara looked up. His left eye was closed as he stared at Lee, a scar on his cheek.

"Lee won't lose in speed to anyone. That's why he'll beat this kid." Gai smiled.

"Now, we're getting started," Lee stated as he smiled slightly at Gaara.

"Lee, explode!" Gai rose up his fist.

"You got it!"

Lee's silhouette disappeared from behind his foe, making him turn while he came back in front of Gaara. "Over here."

Lee swung his fist at Gaara, effectively connecting it. He watched as Gaara slid back as he did his normal fighting pose. He definitely felt that one.

Gaara had his eyes closed as a wall of sand appeared behind him, creating a shadow. He ignored as everyone awed in Lee's incredible speed. Much to everyone's surprise, it looked as though Gaara's skin was crumbling off.

They all heard a loud maniacal laugh emanating from the Jinchūriki. Lee saw the insanity in Gaara's eyes as he felt sweat drip from his forehead. "What's going on?"

Gaara kept on laughing as Lee put a hand behind his back, ready to launch an attack. The sand he controlled covered him up, creating a tight barrier around his body.

Sasuke looked over to the blonde kunoichi that was next to him. When did she get over here?

Temari seemed to know what Sasuke was about to ask when he slightly opened his mouth. "That's Gaara's absolute defense. He is normally covered with it all day. It's different from his Sand Shield, which move automatically."

"Is that all you got?" Gaara taunted.

With that wall of protection around his body, this might be difficult for me. My attacks can become useless against it. I guess I have no choice but to use… Lee had determination in his eyes. ..The Lotus!

He looked up at Gai, who gave him to 'Okay'. Lee hung his head down as he slowly started to remove the wrappings on his arms. Gai stared intently at his student. With the power of the Lotus, that protection of sand is useless against Lee.

Gaara watched as Lee disappeared from sight. He flicked his eyes to the direction over his shoulder as smoke clouds appeared in a circle around himself. Ninjutsu? No, it must be something different, or else he could have used it at the beginning of our battle.

"Hurry up and stop wasting time," Gaara said.

The sand moved in a fluid motion from the base of the ground. Gaara was prepared to defend himself from all of Lee's possible attacks. Or at least that's what his arrogance told him.

Lee looked at Gaara, who stood still. With so much speed, Lee came close to Gaara and kicked his jaw upward. "As you wish, this is not over yet!"

Gaara had his arms in a defensive position as he looked at Lee. Dodging the sand that was aimed for him, Lee launched both himself and Gaara up into the air.

Lee winced in pain as he and Gaara started to get closer to the ceiling. Gai put his hands together as if he were praying and quickly shut his eyes. End it quickly, Lee! These attacks are doing dangerous things to your body!

He grabbed Gaara and switched their direction, so that they were now descending at a high speed, heads to the ground. Using the loose wrappings, Lee put Gaara in a bind, activating his Initial Lotus.

He started to spin the both of them a dangerous speed, creating a drill-like appearance. Lee kept his hands tightly around the wrapped Gaara's arms as he said, "Take this!"

They both shut their eyes, awaiting the ground that they were quickly heading to. It seemed like so long for them to hit the floor, but it was only a matter of seconds for the spectators.

A large smoke cloud was created as the two boys hit the ground. To match, some of the earth beneath them rose up.

As the cloud appeared, Gaara looked unconscious, his eyes closed. Temari and Kankurō looked at their brother with wide eyes.

Sakura had a large smile on her face. "Lee-san! He won!"

"Kakashi-sensei, where are we?" Naruto looked around.

"You need to be quiet, Naruto. People might hear," Kakashi said. "Now, take off your shirt."

Naruto's eyes widened as he made a cross with his arms. "Kakashi-sensei, I don't swing that way! I don't like guys at all!"

Kakashi shook his head. "Not like that. It's about your seal."

He lowered his arms. "Seal? How do you know?"

"From your battle with Inuzuka Kiba. You activated it and nearly killed the poor boy," Kakashi explained as Naruto removed his jacket.

The blond closed his eyes and sighed. He knew that the seal was activated, but he didn't know that Kiba could have been killed. Naruto now truly believed that he actually was the monster people thought he was.

Kakashi waited until Naruto had removed the black shirt that was under the jacket. His seal was visible to the Jōnin.

He approached Naruto, who was standing in the middle of the room. Kakashi formed so many seals; Naruto couldn't tell which ones they were. "Be ready, Naruto."

When Kakashi was done, he put his hand on Naruto's seal, creating markings on his back. Naruto winced in pain as he hunched over, clenching his teeth.

This seal isn't weak. It's way too powerful for a twelve-year old kid, especially one like Naruto. Kakashi saw new markings form as he held the seal tighter.

When the markings started to retract, Kakashi waited impatiently for it. It moved slower, signaling that a force was keeping it from being suppressed.

"Trying to keep us down, Naruto? I'll tell you right now, no matter how hard you try, you won't win." Naruto heard Yami say in his mind.

He put more force into keeping his jaw shut, trying to endure the ending pain. It receded from his torso, becoming only a circular design around his seal.

With a more relaxed face, he dropped down, landing on his right cheek as Kakashi stood up straight. The teacher sighed as he scratched the back of his head and covered Naruto with the orange jacket.

"Kakashi-san, are you sure that will work?" Jiraiya's back was against the wall in front of the silver-haired male with his arms crossed.

"Jiraiya-sama!" Kakashi growled, stepping in front of the blond boy.

"I applaud you, Kakashi-san, still using honorifics to your enemies," he said, stepping forward to Kakashi.

He put his hand on his mask, ready to pull it down if the sage came further.

A/N: Okay, it's been a while guysand I felt like I needed to update, but right now I have to do a lot of things and hopefully over the summer, I'll be a bit faster on these updates. Now, I'm cutting the actual battle in half since I wanted to get this out here after about 10 days of absence. There's a reason for it, but I can't share it.

I don't know if there's anything to translate, but I did do the Konoha Senpū thing, so why not just translate that? It's Leaf Whirlwind.

So...Read and Review if you liked it!