"Get down here," says Gaara, who is, of course, already in the arena.
Kankuro nearly starts biting his nails. Whoever the crazy green kid with the huge eyebrows is, he is as good as dead.
After the green kid's sensei gives him some much needed but ultimately futile advice, the Leaf genin heads down into the arena to fight Gaara.
"Begin!" commands Hayate, giving Gaara and Lee the signal to begin.
Kankuro watches the fight, which basically consists of Lee trying to attack Gaara and Gaara's sand shield protecting Gaara, wondering how long it will drag out.
"Taijutsu obviously isn't working," says Madoka. "Why doesn't Lee use ninjutsu or genjutsu?"
Kankuro is wondering that himself. "Those things won't work on Gaara either," Kankuro says. "But why isn't Lee using any ninjutsu?"
"That is simple," says Lee's sensei. "He can't."
"He can't?" says Naruto. "You mean when he fought Sasuke that time - you know, when she copied his moves - he was literally just pulling some basic moves?"
"That is right," says Gai. "But I am surprised that Sasuke managed to learn the Dancing Leaf Shadow after only seeing it once, but then to add her own attack to the end is even more amazing. But then you, Naruto, simply copied Sasuke's finishing move. Kakashi, what were you thinking, teaching your students to copy other shinobi the way you do?"
"In my defence," says Kakashi. "I did not teach them that, they...er...copied me."
Sasuke's scary ass father laughs and says, "Oh the irony."
Naruto pats his jounin sensei's arm. Kankuro wonders if Naruto is insane. Baki never lets his students touch him unless they are trying to fight him in a sparring match. "It's okay, Kakashi sensei," says Naruto. "It just means you're doing your job right, even if you don't get paid enough."
To Kankuro's surprise, Kakashi does not get angry at Naruto for being so familiar with him. Kakashi simply sighs and says, "You and I both know I don't get paid to train you."
Naruto thinks about this and says, "I'll get Grandma to help me make you cookies."
Kakashi smiles at Naruto and says, "You're too nice."
"Is that a good thing or a bad thing?" asks Naruto, cocking his head to one side.
"Neither," says Sasuke's Father. "It is your most powerful weapon."
"I'll make you cookies Kakashi sensei," says Naruto. "And then I'll bring them to your house so I can meet your new baby!"
"That's a great idea!" says Kakashi, pulling out a photo of a brown haired woman, a white haired girl and a baby. "This is my baby. Isn't he the cutest?"
Kankuro rolls his eyes and goes back to watching the fight. These Leaf ninjas get distracted by the oddest things. Kankuro's father certainly never shows people photos of Kankuro, Gaara and Temari to people.
While Naruto and Kakashi are gushing over the photo of Kakashi's family, Lee and Gaara are still fighting - if you can even call what is going on in the ring a fight.
Then Rock Lee jumps on top of the carved hands at the front of the hall and takes off his leg weights. Like that will make any difference….
"WHAT?!" Kankuro cannot stop the startled exclamation from leaving his mouth. "How much was he wearing?"
"More than most kids his age could handle, I'll bet," says Sasuke's Father, who doesn't actually seem all that scary now.
What scares Kankuro right now are the massive craters and dust clouds Rock Lee's leg weights caused when they hit the ground.
"I can move freely now!" rejoices Rock Lee. One second he his stretching atop the stone hands, the next he is kicking at Gaara's head. Kankuro cannot tear his eyes away from the fight. Gaara is truly hard pressed to keep his sand ahead of Lee's attacks.
Then Lee breaks through Gaara's defenses.
It all seems to happen so fast after that: Gaara goes on the offensive, Lee cracks Gaara's armour and uses some sort of flying attack called the Hidden Lotus to slam Gaara into the ground. Gaara survives, of course, by switching himself out for sand.
"That kid has some talent," says Fugaku. "He reminds me of you when you were younger, Gai."
"He reminds me of me when I was younger too," says Lee's sensei, whose name is Gai, apparently. Gai then goes on to tell them all how Lee was a no hoper with nothing going for him but some lousy taijutsu. Gai tells them all Lee worked on his taijutsu until his effort caused him to exceed any kind of natural ability. Lee wants to be as good a ninja as anyone else, even if he does not have ninjutsu or genjutsu, Gai tells them. He pauses in his narration to give Lee permission to use 'That Jutsu', before telling the story of how Lee trained and trained and never gave up.
Kankuro feels like this should be a sad, inspiring, heartfelt tale, but he is honestly too worried about Gaara's mental state to pay much attention to Rock Lee's life story.
Then a strange energy fills the hall, and Lee turns red and his hair stands on end. Kankuro turns to Gai and asks, "What is that technique?"
Gai launches into an explanation about the Eight Inner Gates and how he can unlock them to gain a massive power up, and how Lee can also unlock the first few gates.
Kankuro is practically wetting himself with fear by the time Gai is finished explaining. Because, by the time the explanation is finished, Rock Lee has broken Gaara's sand armour and Gaara's shaky mental stability. "No, no no!" Kankuro clutches the balcony railings tightly. He never likes seeing his little brother lose it.
"Are you worried about your teammate?" asks Naruto.
"Of course!" snaps Kankuro. "He's my baby brother."
"Aw, I kinda feel sad that you have to watch him get his ass kicked by Lee," says Naruto. "But I kinda wanna know Gaara's story now."
"Ask Gaara, not me!" says Kankuro, who is actually chewing his nails now. "And I'm not worried about him losing! I'm worried he will kill Lee."
"And why is that?" asks Fugaku.
Shukaku, thinks Kankuro. "He is mentally unstable," says Kankuro. On one hand, his knuckles are white from holding onto the railing. On the other hand, his fingers are bleeding from how violent his nail-biting has gotten.
Another Hidden Lotus and a collapsed but trying to rise Lee later, and Gaara is lying in a pool of sand, with a look in his eyes that means death. Gaara raises his hand. The sand wraps around Lee's arm and leg.
"Sand Coffin!" says Gaara, crushing Lee's arm and leg.
Lee screams in pain, and Gaara retracts his sand for a second. Then he goes on the attack again, only to have all the sand brushed aside as if it were nothing. Lee's sensei is standing between Gaara and Lee. When did Gai move?
"Why did you protect him?" demands Gaara, in a voice that breaks something inside Kankuro. "He failed! So WHY…?!"
"Because he is my student," says Gai. "And Lee is precious to me."
Kankuro wonders what is going on in Gaara's mind to make him look so distraught.
"I quit," says Gaara, and Kankuro thinks Gaara means quit trying to make sense of love, not the match.
Gaara turns to walk away, but then Lee stands up.
"Lee," says Gai, turning to his student. "That's enough, the match is over." Then Gai stops talking and starts crying. "Lee! What have I done?" Gai laments. "Even unconscious and broken, you are still trying to fight. What have I done?" Gai hugs Lee, and Kankuro realizes he cannot remember the last time his father hugged him.
Kankuro can see that Gaara has realized that this Leaf ninja who is essentially a failure, and now a cripple - if he even lives - is loved by his sensei far more than Gaara and Kankuro's father ever loved any of his children.
Medics come and take Rock Lee away, and Gaara is announced the winner, but Kankuro can only stare at Gai, that strange, strange man. Naruto runs down to see Lee and exchanges a strange look with Gaara, but Kankuro is staring at Gai and thinking about love.
The next match is announced and the contestants go down to the arena to fight, but Kankuro is staring across the ring at his siblings. They seem so sad and lonely, just like he always feels.
The boy from the sound, Dosu, or whatever his name is, is fighting the boy from the Leaf, Choji, or something. But Kankuro is thinking hard. Bully. That is what Naruto called him. They are all bullies, his whole family - all except...No. Kankuro does not want to think about him. Not now. Not after…
Gaara has that stunned look on his face. The same look he gets whenever Kankuro or Temari smiles at him. But why would Gaara be so stunned by what happened at the end of the match? Why is Kankuro so confused about it? All Kankuro wants is a hug.
That's probably all Gaara wants too.
But now Dosu has won and the winners are being called down to the arena. Kankuro feels angry at the whole world. He stands quietly, brooding, while Hayate explains the next round. Kankuro can practically feel the confusion and anger and hurt emanating from Gaara. And some confusion from Temari, who keeps glancing from one brother to the other, wondering what is wrong with them. Kankuro quietly takes his number. He will fight the bug boy. Temari will fight the lazy boy. Gaara will fight the Uchiha girl.
Neji will fight Naruto. Madoka will fight Sai. Dosu will fight Kabuto.
Kankuro just wants this all to be over. Including the invasion.