(A.R.): Hiya Everyone! I got a prereader! Im so happy! Well, there's not much to be said, than THANK YOU FOR YOUR REVIEWS!
ON TO THE STORY!
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Endless Rage – Hidden
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"Yosh!! Its my turn!"
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Gai felt really proud of his student. He was always bright, determined, and never gave up. It was like looking at a better version of his younger self. He felt like boasting, and that's what he did.
"Kakashi, I think you will witness something more amazing than your Uchiha… That is one of my pupils, Rock Lee! I bet you'll be jealous!" Gai stated happily/dramatically as his prized student jumped off the railing to fight his strange opponent.
"Hn? D'you say something Gai?" Kakashi replied nonchalantly, and Gai silently cried at the corner for his defeat. 'Your damn coolness has defeated my fiery passion once again! One of these days, you will crawl beneath my feet!!!' Gai thought as he cried, and was formulating a plan, which was sadly disrupted by a loud bang in the arena.
"That Lee kid might have some problems…" Kakashi stated to Gai, who was in shock of what has happened to his student.
'Lee… Be careful…' Gai thought worriedly as he observed Lee's odd opponent.
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'Shit… What is this? I tried shuriken, punches, kicks, almost everything I had in my possession, and not even a scratch! It feels like I'm punching a solid metal or something… He hasn't even moved an inch yet! I've never met such opponent… I may need to use that technique…' Lee thought incredulously as he dodged massive waves of sand one after another. 'Is he ever gonna run out of sand or something?'
"Is that all you got...?" Gaara's intimidating, yet frightening voice rang out above the sound of the sand going about to decompose his opponent limb to limb. Gaara seemed… bored.
"This fight needs more…" Gaara's expressionless face suddenly twisted into a sickening longing grin. "BLOOD…" With that, the sand moved more vigorously to crush its opponent.
'What's up with him…? Bloodlust?' Lee thought as he dodged another pile of sand that came at him like a beast, which strangely resembled a hand. As the hand was about to grab Lee's leg, he disappeared then reappeared on top of the statue of Hand Seal.
"LEE! YOU MAY TAKE THEM OFF NOW!" Gai yelled at Lee confidently, while showing his white, sparkling teeth which blinded many people in the arena.
"BUT GAI SENSEI! I THOUGHT YOU SAID I CAN TAKE THEM OFF ONLY WHEN I'M PROTECTING SOMEONE IMPORTANT!" Lee yelled at top of his lungs at his sensei to get his message across, then received a reassuring thumbs up with a bonus wink. "IT'S ALL RIGHT! COME ON LEE, I ALLOW IT!"
"YOSH!!!!" Lee dramatically yelled again as he took his hidden weights off. Each of them had 'Guts' written on them.
'Hmp, what a fool… A few weights will not going to change any-' Temari's thoughts were interrupted as the weights Lee dropped created a gigantic craters which seemed to measure up to 5 meters wide each. ''the hell…?'
'Holy shit… That's a lot of weight…' Sakura thought as her eyes bulged out more than usual, and her neat hair stuck out everywhere from the surprise.
"Isn't that a bit too much Gai…" Kakashi smirked while Gai muttered something under his breath which sounded like 'Always acting so cool…'
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"Here I come!" Lee suddenly disappeared from the statue, and then reappeared behind Gaara. 'What…?' Gaara almost didn't even get to finish his thought as a vicious punch came through his Suna no Tate and smacked right on his cheek. The force behind the blow was so strong that he rolled over several feet.
'I… It can't be… He wounded Gaara...' Temari and Kankuro thought simultaneously as they watched incredulously at their youngest brother who has never everbeen wounded… Scratch that, never even been hit before… 'This is bad…'
"I'm not done yet!" Lee kicked around Gaara with inhuman speed, and Suna no Tate did not help much. "Time to finish this!" Lee punched him in the gut while charging forward, putting all his momentum and strength in that one punch. Although the Suna User was doubled over, Lee could not help to think that he was punching a brick wall or something… The guy's body seemed to be very sturdy, and hard. 'Whatever it was, there was no shield to protect him, so that had to have hurt.'
That was why Lee was dumbfounded when he saw Gaara standing back up again like it was nothing, as he noticed something peculiar.
His face was crumbling.
'What in the world…?' Now, cracks appeared all over his body as he seemed to be shedding skin… Only difference was that it was made out of sand.
Gaara now stood with insanely grin with his eyes frighteningly widened. "Yes… Nobody has ever stood up against me before… Let me kill you… You who have been able to penetrate my Suna no Tate… If I kill you… It will give me a sense of meaning… The feeling of being… Alive… Yes… Now… Let me feel it!!" Gaara smirked as he summoned even more sand that which covered the whole arena. Lee, who did not know how to fly, was in a deep shit.
Some of the sand started to whirl towards Lee, who hastily jumped back on to the statue, which had no sand and had height advantage.
'Damn… Should I just Omote Renge? I was saving that for Neji…' Lee hastily started to unwrap his bandages on his arm, and then yelled, "Gai sensei! May I use that technique?" Receiving a blinding shine of Gai's teeth and his thumbs-up, Lee acknowledged, and then charged.
Gaara only smirked as he just stood there, arms folded. The sand around him did not even try to protect him as Lee's devastating Omote Renge was executed. Gaara was sent flying upwards by his chin being kicked from below, and then Lee started kicking upwards in mid air. Suna no Tate seemed ineffective. Lee wasted no time, as he wrapped the bandages around Gaara, and then descended to the ground like a spinning tornado. The impact created an explosion which looked strangely like a lotus. Out of the smoke, Lee jumped out panting. Gaara just laid there, his arm still folded, with cracks all over his body.
'Nothing could have survived that… Nothing!' Lee thought as for some reason, dread spread within him. Hayate slowly walked towards the unmoving Gaara, then was about to announce Lee the winner, then he noticed something.
Gaara's ear was falling off.
'No way…' Lee thought in horror as his legs were clamped down as sand silently seized him without noticing. He heard sand moving behind him, so he turned his head around with dread.
Gaara stood in the middle of whirling sand, unharmed, and smirking.
"H… How…?!" Lee asked to nobody in particular in shock.
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"It was right before your student attacked him… Even I could not even sense him while he disappeared… Somehow, he dissolved into the sand while your student executed the combo. That was quite an amazing combo, however. Wasn't that a forbidden jutsu, Gai?" Kakashi asked plainly and he regarded the 'rival' next to him, who had his face scrunched up in shock.
"Wh…What?! Renge missed!? How the hell...! Renge is a desperation move! It damages the user almost as much as the receiver! It also gives incredible amount of stress to the muscle! And it MISSED!?" Gai sputtered as he pointed frantically at the arm-folded Gaara.
"... Lee probably won't be able to execute another one, unless…" Gai's ramble was cut short by a sharp scream, which has erupted from the sand boy.
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"Tell me… Which should I crush first… Your arm…? Your leg…? Or rather, your HEAD? Choose… It will not make much difference to me…" Gaara was sadistically enjoying this. He never had this much fun since…
That brought out his old memories.
He felt his headache returning as his head felt like hundred drills drilling through his head, and then bashing it with a gigantic mallet. He could not take the agony, which was splitting his skull in half, did one thing that came to mind.
He screamed. He screamed a scream that struck both sympathy and fear at the same time in deepest part of people's soul.
"Aaahhhh My head! Mother!! I'll kill YOU ALL!! Arrghhh!" Gaara yelled and yelled, so much that he lost control over his sand, and they started breaking and crashing into anything that came into contact. Fortunately, as soon as the sand grip was loosened, Lee has gotten away to a safe distance, which being the top of the statue. He observed the scene carefully, trying to understand what was going on.
The arena was already crumbling, as the sand struck everywhere randomly, and was filled with craters. Everyone watched with a 'deer in the headlight' fashion as the sand thrashed around wildly. Gaara took no heed of the stares, as he still screamed his head off, occasionally saying things that did not make sense to people, excluding Kankuro, Temari, and surprisingly, Naruto.
"NO! DON'T LEAVE ME ALONE! IT HURTS! AHH!! WHAT IS THIS PAIN!!! I DON'T UNDERSTAND!! LOVE!? WHAT IS LOVE!? ARRG!! YASHAMARU!! MOTHER!! FATHER!!"
Everyone stared, shocked and petrified, as Gaara started yelling something that they did not, could not comprehend.
All but one Uzumaki Naruto.
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Naruto listened and watched the red head intently. He somehow… understood the message within the terrible scream. The sorrow… Gaara's sorrow very well matched his own. Deep inside Naruto, he knew it himself. He bottled it all up, and tried to fill in the void by getting attention, and acknowledgement… But it was futile. The void was still there, and he knew he's still missing the key factor; Love and acceptance. Although he knew what he was missing, he could not find them. They were something that is given to him. He cannot earn it, nor find it. He could do nothing, but hope. The villager's eyes are so cold and rejecting… It was all because of the Kitsune inside him… The adults just ignored him, or when they were forced to socialize with him, they would show extreme carelessness, and was very sensitive about the distance between them. If he got within the radius of 6 feet around them, they would either walk away from him to gain some more distance, or say harsh words to him that scarred him deep.
He was fed up with them, until he met Iruka-sensei.
He was the only one who did not look at him with cold eyes… Well, now he didn't. Before Iruka took pity on him, He was just as same as everyone else. Cold and distant, but as the time passed, he somehow saw the heartbroken boy behind the exterior of a cheerful, loud-mouthed boy. If it weren't for Iruka, he would have probably ran away a long time ago.
The red head's rambling brought out all his bad memories; all of them. He related himself to Gaara, and then was surprised to find out that both were extremely alike. What was weird was that Naruto kept seeing these images of the sand boy. All his past, his pain, his loss… He saw them all. He somehow got the feeling that Gaara was seeing his memories also. Why?
Cause Gaara was glaring right at him while screaming incoherent sentences.
Naruto barely caught the last part of Gaara's ramble.
"KYUUBI…?"
Wha…what?!'
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Gaara was puzzled. While he was being mentally tortured to half-dead state, he saw images pass before his eyes. Images that weren't his own. Someone else's…
'The blond loud mouth… Why am I seeing this?'
In the midst of the pain, he saw how the boy lived his life; being hated, and shunned. The loneliness he felt, having no family, learning to live alone, and enduring the hatred around him.
'I would have killed them all a long time ago…'
Instead, the blond turned to the opposite way – to prove himself, gain acknowledgement, and gain a sense of existence. Gaara himself yearned for love and acknowledgement, and he found out that he could feel something close to that when killing a person. Yashamaru was the one who taught him about a cure for his heartache – 'love'. Although it was short lived, he thought that he felt that emotion… Only to be taken away by Yashamaru himself. As he told Gaara that his mother never loved him, his ray of hope vanished, and came to conclusion that all else lives only to be killed by himself. Gaara liked it that way somewhat, but he still had the heartaches, and occasional headaches as a bonus now. Whenever his memories surfaced into his mind, all hell would break loose.
He stared up at the blond, cursing at the would-be-source of these images.
The images were flashing slower than before, but they were darker than the other ones also. They seemed to be the boy's deepest secrets. Indeed, for then Gaara of the Sand witnessed the deepest inner demon of the blond boy.
It was a major understatement to say that Gaara never felt fear.
'Wh… What is that…? A fox… There is another who bears something like Shukaku?!' Gaara thought in terror as he stared at the image of Kyuubi's flaming red eyes contained with malice and hatred gathered over the millennia.
"Kyuubi…" Gaara whispered the terrible name that suddenly came out of nowhere.
As if to taunt him, the image was stuck there, refusing to go away. Gaara found himself unable to move an inch, frozen by fear. Even if it was just an image, it was so realistic… It struck pure fear inside his heart.
'I don't want to die… I don't want to die…'
He stopped screaming now, and was crouched on the ground with his sand swirling around him, creating a miniature tornado. As he repeated his mantra, an incredible blow to his chin with a yell "Sekandarii Renge!" broke him out of his state.
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'I don't know what's going on, but I'll finish this!' Lee thought as he readied himself for Sekandarii Renge.
'Lotus of Konoha always blooms twice…' With that, Lee charged forward to execute the forbidden jutsu.
"Sekandarii Renge!" Lee started the combo with a kick so fast that it looked like a blur. Gaara was in the air, still shocked, and Lee started to kick him around in the air, while maintaining a decent line. While he kicked, Lee saw Gaara's eyes, and his own eyes widened in surprise. 'Is that… Fear?'
Sadly, that was the last thought the bowl head got before Gaara's eyes turned back to his normal, cold unforgiving eyes, and the sand appeared around him to block all Lee's moves again. The sand's speed has increased, as the density. That meant that Lee's kicks and punches were useless now. Luckily for Gaara, he had his Suna no Yoroi on, so did not receive any damage from the initial blow.
Gaara now toyed around with Lee, who was struggling to dodge all the tearing sand. Every time the sand laid a blow, Lee would be butchered; the sand ripped and crushed.
'I have one last option left…' Lee thought desperately as he glanced at his mentor.
Gai seemed to have read his thoughts, and nodded.
Lee's moves suddenly turned normal, as he dodged the sands with previous ease. After he gained some distance, he became deathly serene, as chakra started flowing out of him.
This was the 8 Celestial Inner Body Gates.
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"Don't tell me that you taught him that jutsu… I lost faith in you Gai..." Kakashi stated with disappointed tone; he knew what that technique could do to a person. It would leave the person ripped apart, or better yet, dead. If a teacher taught a student that kind of technique, that person could not be called a teacher.
"What… do… YOU… know about HIM" With uncharacteristic malice in his tone, Gai sharply replied.
"Do you… know what he has gone through? He has something that he has to protect at his life at cost… It is his nindo. Do you think I was happy teaching him that? He's a genius, Kakashi. Not the kind of Uchiha prodigy, but a TRUE, hardworking genius. He never gives up. Sort of like one of your students… Naruto, was it? If you knew your student better, you might be able to understand Lee better. Until that day, you do not have the right to say anything."
Kakashi did not retort. He stood there, still cool and calm, but inside he was taking in all his fellow rival has said. 'Understand Naruto…'
The more he thought about the loud mouthed genin, he found himself that he knew Naruto's deepest hidden secrets, but not the person who resides within. He knew about his father, Kyuubi, his seal, and that he liked ramen… but that was it. What else did he know about him? Nothing. For all Kakashi knew, laughs and smiles could be all façade.
Kakashi did not like being left in the dark.
He came to a conclusion that the Naruto he knew now was not really the Naruto. It was an empty shell; a façade… To protect him from the world's cold gaze… It did not help much, he realized, but it was still there. Kakashi felt shame rising as he remembered that he had been neglecting Naruto over Sasuke. He also realized that he was somewhat of a hypocrite – he always thought of himself better than other people's attitude towards Naruto, but in reality, he was just being an acquaintance.
Kakashi came, Kakashi left. That was just how it was. The bottom line was; He did not really care for Naruto. As a teammate, yes. As a person, no.
Kakashi fought hard to resist the sudden urge to kill himself.
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Lee stood straight as overwhelming chakra expanded out of his body. He was forcing his limits, he knew. After this, he would be lucky if he could use Renge again. Hell, he would be lucky if he could even do Taijutsu anymore! This technique was truly dangerous, and he had to be careful.
'Opening Initial Gate, Heal Gate, Life Gate…'
Lee's skin became red, and veins bulged out on his forehead, freakishly resembling Byakugan.
I will not be the only one who fails here… Neji… Sasuke… And… Naruto…
'… Opening Wound Gate… Limit Gate… I am ready.'
Watch closely Neji…
"Now is the time to abide by and protect my way of the ninja! Gaara, here I come!" After opening the many gates as possible, Lee charged with blinding speed, which both Gaara and the sand could not detect. The result of that was Gaara being thrown in mid air, and punched and kicked around while still being suspended in air. Sand could do nothing except to try and follow the moves futilely.
'Damn it… My armor is being ripped off… Is this really human movement?' Gaara questioned incredulously, as he has never seen anything like this. It was simply incredible.
The audience could not even see (excluding jounins and such) where Lee was; only seeing after images, and a Gaara Rag Doll.
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"Kakashi sensei… How is Lee-san doing this?" Sakura, who wisely taken a step back before in adult's arguments, now could not hold in her curiosity and asked.
"It is… The 8 Celestial Inner Body Gates… It's not something that anybody could do… It opens all chakra gates of a person, which controls the flow of chakra. There are 8 in total; Initial, Heal, Life, Wound, Limit, View, Wonder, and Death. If a person could open all 8, then the person gains greater strength than a Kage for a short amount of time. The set back is that… After the person is done… They often… Die." Kakashi explained the consequences to Sakura, who could not hold her horror.
"Lee-san is not going to… die… is he?" Sakura asked again, fear creeping in her voice.
"It depends… Gai, how many gates can he open?" Kakashi asked Gai with an accusing tone. Gai either didn't notice, or ignored it for once.
"…5." Came the simple answer.
Kakashi fought an urge to gasp. "5? That's not something that could be done with hard work alone… Maybe he is a genius after all…" Kakashi said in a subdued surprised tone while revealing his Sharingan eye for better observation.
'Lee-san… Be careful.'
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Lee gritted his teeth as he felt his left arm muscle being torn. 'Just a little longer… I should finish this off with UraRange…'
While Gaara was being pummeled, Suna no Tate was proven useless. The speed which Lee was moving was not something that the sand wall could catch up to. Gaara only had his Suna no Yoroi, but it was slowly being pealed off.
'I will win this… Even if it costs my life!' Lee held Gaara's robe, then used that to launch him back to Lee, who had a fist waiting.
'Opening… View gate!!' Lee exceeded his limits and opened the next gate.
Gai's eyes visibly widened as he noticed what Lee had done. 'No… Lee, don't go that far…'
His silent pleas went unheard, and Lee punched Gaara several times in the gut with speed resembling lightning. Gaara's Suna no Yoroi could not stand much longer, but Lee gave him no time to think as he prepared for Ura Range.
"Gaara, this is it!" Lee yelled, "URARANGE As he disappeared for a second, then reappeared, only to have his fist shoving Gaara down to the ground. Gaara's Suna no Yoroi was still in effect, and protected him from initial punch, but he did not think he could be unharmed when he hit the ground at this rate. It was then the gourd decided to show its true form and turned into sand.
Everything was in slow motion, as Gai watched the gourd defend its master. 'Gourd turned into sand…? NO!'
There was a big explosion as both competitors crashed into the ground with a bang, and when the smoke cleared, Lee was panting heavily, and crawling on the floor, while Gaara was lying in the sand with his Suna no Yoroi cracked. It seemed that Suna no Tate absorbed the impact at the last minute. Lee and Gai were dumbfounded, as Gaara slowly rose up in the middle, seeming to be unharmed once again.
'Impossible!! He HAS to have sustained at least some damage! If 8 Celestial Inner Body Gates did not even scratch him, then what will?!' Gai thought as he watched horrified. The sand was closing in on Lee.
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Lee's muscles received incredible amount of stress and damage while using the forbidden technique, and his arm muscles were ripped and torn. He could not even stand right. Worst of all, Gaara seemed to be fine. Lee felt truly scared as Gaara formed a seal in hand, and sand responded with a massive waves coming towards him. Lee tried to crawl away, but his left arm and leg was grabbed by the sand's iron grip. Sand smacked him against the ground couple of times so hard, that he almost lost consciousness. Gaara proceeded to use one of his most gruesome attack.
"Sabaku Sousou!"
With a sickening crunch, Lee's arm and legs were crushed with unimaginable pressure, as sand did what its master commanded. Lee screamed in extreme pain, as he felt his arm's every muscle being ripped, and his every bone being crushed. Gaara thought that it wasn't enough, so he tried to engulf Lee whole. Lee still desperately tried to dodge the attack, but he could not even crawl an inch away. Gaara would have succeeded in crushing Lee's every last bone into crumbs, if Gai had not interrupted.
"That's enough. You have already won this match." Gai said as he slapped away the incoming sand.
Images flashed in Gaara's mind once more. This time, it was HIS darkest memories; Yashamaru, his father, siblings, and the sand villagers. All of those which were a possible source of love. Gaara gripped his head in pain, but did not scream.
While trying to ease his turmoil, he replied, "What is he to you…?"
Gai's answer was, "He's… An important subordinate I love."
Gaara stared at him for a moment, then turned and walked away. He muttered "I quit."
"Winner, Gaara." Hayate announced calmly.
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Medical nins came to treat Lee, then all of them shuddered at the wound. They told Gai the result of his extreme behavior.
"Sir… I'm sorry to say this… But he should stop being a ninja."
The statement caused Gai to shudder. He was afraid to ask why, but he had to. "What is his… condition…?"
"His muscles were torn everywhere, and his bones were broken. It would be fine if that was all the damage… but… I'm afraid that his left arm and leg will be crippled for the rest of his life. I'm sorry." Medic nin did seemed to be really regretful when he said this, but this did not registered to Gai.
Gai tried to look calm on the outside, but the mask was cracking because of the tears he held inside. 'You went far to protect your nindo… It is alright. You have already proven yourself, Lee… I was such a fool to teach you this technique… I am a fool…'
Naruto came running down again, and on the way, he passed Gaara. They shared a menacing glance for a split second, but Naruto quickly went running to Thick Eye Brows.
"Is he ok?" Naruto asked Gai, who was standing still in the middle of arena. Gai softly said "Lee… will be ok."
It was a statement that nobody believed.
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Gaara teleported back up to balcony, and stood there, still clutching his head. He still could not understand the concept of love, as he was 'the demon who cares only for himself'. His name meant that. Gaara did not know of this 'love', but he desperately wanted it. The problem was, he did not know how to get it. The people near him always cowered and ran, or tried to kill him for being a monster.
'Why am I the only one… No… There is another…'
Gaara then remembered the blond haired genin. He saw the Kitsune's darkest and deepest memories and felt his feelings. The demon inside him was more frightening than his own. Gaara glanced down at the arena where Naruto stood next to the thick eyebrow's sensei, who was also glaring back at him with hate and determination. He seemed to be angry about something... It was then Gaara witnessed it.
Naruto's eyes flashed crimson red.
This confirmed Gaara's earlier suspicion. He was another like himself. He was somehow almost identical, yet different as day and night.
The fact that he had not given up on pleasing others, while trying to earn love… Maybe…
'No… I do not need 'love'… I will destroy him and gain greater sense of existence.' After all, he was Gaara, the demon who cares only for himself.
He did not need this… love.
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