ch. 20
"Ready? START!"
Naruto and Lee charged at each other. They met each other in the middle of the arena and began bombarding each other with devastating punches.
"Those two are both close range brawlers. They'll probably be at this for awhile." Shikamaru commented to Ino.
"If we're lucky they'll tire each other out. I wouldn't want to fight either of those guys at full power." Ino commented back to her teammate."
The two continued bombarding each other with punches until Lee got the upper hand. He dodged one of Naruto's more zealous punches by ducking low and kicking Naruto straight into the air. Naruto was sent flying and Lee appeared behind him.
"Dancing leaf shadow"
"It didn't work when the Uchiha used it and it won't work now!" Naruto began building up air in his stomach in an attempt to counter the dancing leaf shadow as he did before. Once he was ready to blow Lee disappeared from behind Naruto. Shocked, Naruto exhaled and was sent crashing down to the ground with his own technique. Lee had tricked him by bailing out of the dancing leaf shadow at the last second.
"Did you really think I wouldn't have learned from the Uchiha's mistake?" Lee casually commented to Naruto who was struggling to stand back up.
Meanwhile in the stands Sasuke was furious. He was sitting in between Sakura and Kakashi. He was gritting his teeth and clenching his fists.
"That should be me down there. If it wasn't for that stupid perverted jutsu I would be the one fighting Lee."
Sakura slapped Sasuke in the back of the head.
"Quit sulking and just enjoy the fight." Sakura scolded.
"Yes ma'am."
"She's got him whipped now." Kakashi thought.
Back with the fight Naruto was standing up again.
"You tricked me good with that one but it's gonna take a lot more than that to stop me." Naruto said.
"I wouldn't have it any other way." Lee said with a smile.
"SHADOW CLONE JUTSU!" Ten Naruto's appeared and they all surrounded Lee. They all rushed in at the same time but Lee stood his ground and began dispelling the clones one at a time. Naruto used the momentary distraction to begin setting up for a big offensive maneuver.
First he summoned two more shadow clones. One of them grabbed the real Naruto and began spinning around in a circle. After building up enough momentum he tossed the real Naruto and the other clone performed the grand gust jutsu to accelerate the thrown Naruto. Naruto produced two chakra chains from his hands and began spinning, covering his body all over in the chains. Naruto had turned his own body into a deadly projectile.
When Lee had finally dispelled all of the clones and noticed Naruto's new attack it was already too late for him to dodge. He did the only thing he could think of and opened the first gate. Using his newfound strength he delivered an earth shaking punch that sent Naruto flying backwards into the arms of his two clones.
Both young genin were becoming exhausted. Lee may have stopped Naruto's attack but his arm took alot of damage in their exchange as well. Naruto was likewise feeling the effects of Lee's punch.
"Gotta keep on the offensive!" Naruto thought.
Naruto's clones rushed at Lee while the real one jumped for an aerial attack. Lee quickly dispelled the two clones with well placed kunai and jumped to meet Naruto in the air. They each went for a flying jump kick. As the two met midair their feet came crashing into each others groins and the two fell down to the ground holding their most vulnerable parts.
"HAHAHAHAHAHA! THOSE IDIOTS NUT CHECKED EACH OTHER! HAHAHAHAHAHA!" Kiba howled with laughter from his seat in the stands with Kurenai and Shino.
"That's my teammate." Karui said with embarrassment evident in her voice.
"Don't laugh. It's not funny. DON'T LAUGH!" Hinata thought right before she began giggling uncontrollably.
"They're... dumbasses." Shikamaru said aloud.
"Was I really worried about fighting one of these clowns?" Ino commented.
"I don't get it. What's so bad about getting hit there?" Gaara said. Gaara had never experienced physical pain before so of course he wouldn't understand the pain of being hit in the groin.
The two fighters struggled to get back to their feet.
"Naruto, this isn't looking good. I think you should use the summoning jutsu to get some reinforcements."
"No. This is one of the toughest guys I've ever fought. I'm not going to take the cowards way out and ask for help."
"Idiot human. To hell with your pride we have to win. We're the only ones who can handle the Shukaku. Or did you forget that we fight him next. Don't fool yourself into thinking Karui has even the slightest chance against him."
"Just shut the hell up."
"SHADOW CLONE JUTSU!" Naruto summoned an army of clones that filled almost the entire arena.
"Cause that jutsu has worked flawlessly so far!"
"I SAID SHUT UP!"
The army of clones rushed at Lee who began defending himself. After a whole five minutes of action the army was destroyed and both of the young genin were breathing heavy.
"If I use any more of the gates my body will be too worn out to fight again. I must conserve my strength." Lee thought
"I refuse to use summons or Kurama's chakra. If I can't beat this guy with my own strength then I don't want to win."
"You're a fool Naruto. Don't come crying to me when you lose this match."
"I won't be losing. I've got a plan. I wanted to save this for Gaara but I'm gonna have to use it now."
Naruto began building up his chakra. His body became surrounded in an aura of chakra. At first the aura was blue but as he kept building it up it turned white and the air around Naruto became violent as if it was in a tornado.
"Oh! That technique!" The hokage said stunned.
"The kid actually did it! He copied my brothers technique and now he's straight pimpin!" Bee rapped, proud of his student.
"It's true what they say about Killer Bee. The man is a terrible rapper." Were the Kazekage's only thoughts.
"It's time to end this!" Naruto proclaimed.
Lee stood smiling. "I've heard of the Raikage's special technique but to actually fight someone with their own version of it is an honor. I must return the favor by honoring you with my full strength." Lee sat down and began taking off his boots. He revealed weighted training gear hidden in them and casually tossed them aside. They created enormous craters in the ground that shocked everyone in the stands. Lee got into his fighting stance and the two young warriors disappeared in a flash. Their speed was unbelievable. Only some of the most experienced Shinobi in the stands could keep up with them. The two clashed repeatedly with Lee getting the worst of it. Naruto's aura of wind chakra didn't just enhance his speed but it protected his body.
"THIS IS IT!" Naruto kicked Lee up into the air.
"DANCING LEAF SHADOW" Naruto yelled as he began covering Lee with chakra chains. Naruto slammed Lee into the ground head first and landed not too far away. He let his aura dissipate and fell to his knees exhausted.
"That... was... the... best... fight... EVER!" Naruto said while trying to catch his breath.
Lee was in a crater in the ground knocked for a loop.
"Grandma? can I have the curry of life grandma? I've been a good boy." Lee said in a daze.
"I think that's enough. The winner of the match is Naruto Uzumaki!" The proctor announced.
There was a lukewarm applause and Naruto walked off irritated.
"They could have cheered better than that."
"What do you expect? This crowd is full of mostly leaf ninja and civilians. You're the equivalent of the foreign heel in a wrestling match."
"Now that I think about it you're right. Shoot, I hate not being the babyface."
"Beats being a jobber."
As Naruto was walking up the steps to the balcony where the other contestants watched the match he passed by Gaara on his way up.
"I'm going to kill your friend." Gaara casually commented to Naruto as he passed by. Naruto stopped dead in his tracks and had to restrain himself from attacking Gaara on the spot. Karui wasn't far behind and saw the two's interaction. As she passed by Naruto he grabbed her by the wrist to stop her.
"Don't die out there." He whispered to her.
"Don't worry about me. If things get to hairy out there I'll forefeit." Karui began walking away before she stopped.
"Wait I forgot something." She turned around and kicked Naruto straight in the groin.
"Don't think I didn't notice you grabbing my ass. Perverted motherfucker." Karui turned and walked off for real this time."
"But I didn't grab her ass." Naruto said aloud as he held his aching groin.
"At least not this time." He added in his mind.
As Naruto struggled to stand up he heard giggling and looked up the stairs to see Hinata and the Nara boy standing at the top of the stairs.
"There we pranked him. Can I go back to the top now?"
"Yes. Thank you Shikamaru."
The wheels began turning in Naruto's head and he realized that Hinata must have asked the Nara boy to use his shadow to touch Karui's rear right as they passed by so she would think it was Naruto.
"That's not funny!" Naruto yelled at the giggling girl.
"You're right. IT WAS HILARIOUS!" Hinata began laughing uncontrollably.
With Lee
Lee was in the infirmary surrounded by his team when he woke up. TenTen put her hands on Lee's shoulder expecting him to need consoling after his loss.
"It's ironic isn't it?" Lee said as he sat up.
"What do you mean?" Neji questioned.
"I finally defeated you Neji, only to lose to another stronger than both of us." Lee began smiling and stuck up his thumb in the nice guy pose.
"It only goes to show that we must double our efforts to improve."
Guy sensei began crying in the comical way he does.
"Lee! Your sportsmanship is exceptional!"
"GAI SENSEI!"
"LEE!"
The two began hugging and Neji and TenTen left the room to let the two have their moment.
"Now do you understand why I don't like men?" TenTen asked Neji as they walked back to their seats.
"Do me a favor and end my life if I ever become like those two." Neji said with complete seriousness.
The two walked by the bathrooms as two teenage girls walked out. TenTen felt like she recognized one of them but quickly brushed it off thinking she must have just seen her around town. When they were out of earshot of the other group the two teenagers started whispering to each other.
"The boy has certainly improved his skills since we saw him last time. Hopefully the idiot doesn't end up getting hurt like he did back then." The blond girl said.
"I'm sure he'll be fine. I heard some people talking and that Lee boy is Might Guy's star pupil. If he can handle that then I'm sure Naruto can handle anything." The black haired one said.
"Wanna make a bet on it Shizune?"
"Lady Tsunade! You promised no gambling while we were here!"
"SSSHHHH! Lower your voice. What was the point in transforming into teenagers if you blow our cover by yelling like that?"
Meanwhile the second match of the tournament was about to begin. Karui and Gaara were staring each other down and waiting for the go ahead from the proctor.
"Ready? BEGIN!"
Karui immediately unsheathed her sword and charged at Gaara. She began slashing wildly at him but each time the sand from his gourd would block the attack. After getting tired of wasting her energy on futile sword attacks she backed off and began preparing her ninjutsu.
"FIRE STYLE FLAMETONGUE JUTSU!" She spat a stream of fire onto her sword as she did in the preliminaries. She held out her sword and sent a concentrated blast of fire toward Gaara. The sand formed around him and protected him from harm.
Getting angry Karui began preparing another fire jutsu.
"FIRE STYLE FLAME CARPET JUTSU!" She spat a stream of fire on the ground this time and it surrounded Gaara. With a wave of his hand the sand covered and extinguished the flames.
"OH FUCK THIS!" Karui began building up all of her chakra for one big jutsu. She was putting all of her hope on this one move.
Meanwhile in the stands
"This girl sure has a lot of fire jutsu. Hey Kakashi sensei do you know any of those jutsu?" Sakura asked. When she didn't get an answer she looked to her side and noticed both her teammate and their sensei focusing on the girl with their sharingans active.
"Did you say something Sakura?" Kakashi asked while keeping his gaze fixed on Karui.
"I should have figured these two would be hard at work stealing this girls techniques. Fucking Sharingan." Sakura thought as she turned her attention back to the fight.
Karui was flashing through her hand signs, the amount of chakra she was molding was visible in an aura around her.
"FIRE STYLE RAINBOW INFERNO JUTSU!" Karui blew a blast of multi colored fire out of her mouth that covered Gaara and the entire area around him in beautiful rainbow-colored flames.
"If she's using that attack she must really desperate." Naruto said aloud on the competitors balcony.
"So pretty." Hinata and Ino said aloud together.
"That's why she hates this move. Karui is just about the biggest tomboy in the world. She hates pretty stuff like rainbows. She thinks if she uses this technique that people won't take her seriously. The ironic thing is that the rainbow inferno jutsu is one of the strongest fire jutsu in the world." Naruto explained to the girls.
Meanwhile at the infirmary
"Are you sure that you're okay to be moving Lee?" Guy asked his favorite student.
"Of course Guy sensei. Now let us go and watch the rest of the matches."
Back with the fight
When the jutsu was complete Karui began breathing heavy and could barely stand up.
"Used... too much... chakra." She managed to say in between gasps for air.
"Are you done?" Karui froze with fear at the voice coming from behind her. She slowly turned around to see Gaara materializing from sand behind her. He had managed to dodge her attack.
"N-NO! I-I QUIT!" She stammered out at the proctor.
"Okay that's enough. The winner of the match is Gaara."
"The match is only over when my sand has absorbed every single drop of blood from this girls frail little body." Gaara's sand began covering Karui and lifting her into the air.
"That's enough Gaara! If you kill this girl now after she quit you'll be disqualified!" The proctor tried to reason with the insane boy to no avail.
"I GOT TO GET OUT THERE!" Naruto prepared to jump down and save Karui but suddenly Gaara's sand coffin that was encasing Karui was blown apart and Karui was gone.
"Do you have no honor? Attacking an opponent who has already submitted is the shameless act of a coward." Karui was being held in the arms of Rock Lee who came out of the infirmary just in time to see Karui quit and Gaara's attack on her.
"You dare interfere? Fine, I'll kill you too." Gaara raised his hand about to send his sand to attack them only to be stopped by the Kazekage appearing before him.
The two said nothing to each other. They just stared into each others eyes. After a few seconds Gaara relented and sealed his sand back into his gourd. He walked away as if nothing happened.
"I must apologize for my sons behavior. He can be very difficult to handle sometimes." The kazekage apologized to everyone and went back to his seat with the hokage and Bee.
"You are safe now." Lee said as he put Karui back on her feet.
Karui just stared at him a blush barely visible on her face.
"Thanks I guess... Goodbye" She planted a quick peck on Lee's cheek and ran off.
The crowd gave a collective aww and Lee was left speechless blushing and holding his cheek where Karui kissed him.
"FUCK! I OWE NARUTO A HUNDRED BUCKS! KARUI ISN'T A LESBIAN AFTER ALL!" Omoi thought as he sulked about how light his wallet was about to become.