Chapter 27:Of talent and hard work
Azure eyes watched as the older genin beside her jumped for joy as his name finally appeared on the screen (like it wasn't a given thing considering this was the last match), and kept herself from shaking her head. Briefly, she wondered if she should try to warn the boy before deciding against it. Judging from their brief encounter with him before the written exam, Kagome sincerely doubted anything she said could have any kind of impact on the boy's fight. He seemed to be the honestly optimistic kind, similar to Naruto-kun now that she thought about it. Unlike the blond who'd learned not to take her warnings lightly, Lee would probably disregard her words not out of malice but overconfidence. Keeping back a sigh, the girl leaned against the railing; truth to be told, she'd rather have someone else be the one to confront the redhead. It wasn't like the Higurashi heiress had anything against the older boy, but she wasn't sure anyone other than perhaps the Taishos had any chance to beat the feral genin from Suna.
"Any bets on this one?" Kakashi-sensei drawled from behind her.
Her gaze traveled quickly towards the blonde; she knew her friend had gained an admiration of some sort after showing himself capable of actually beating Sasuke. Noticing the evidence of just how it was that the older teen had gotten that strength had only amplified it. Kagome really didn't want to upset the boy again, especially so soon after the disaster that was Hinata's fight.
"It'll probably be a hard fight either way."
"Hmph, there's no way Gaara can lose."
The voice that answered hadn't been one she'd been expecting. Even noticing the defeated puppeteer making his way to them, the Higurashi heiress didn't think him bold enough to actually speak up.
"What are you doing here?" Naruto's voice was bitter as he looked at the newcomer suspiciously.
""Geez, just trying to be friendly with our allies." Like hell she'd accept that as an honest answer. It wasn't worth it to confront him and get into a fight about it, though. She was too tired for that. "Besides, it's not like this is gonna last long anyway. It doesn't matter what kind of attacks he uses; no one can defeat Gaara."
"No." The certainty in Naruto's voice was expected. "He's strong."
Whatever the older genin planned on saying to refute the blond, it was silenced by the sound of...something clashing against flesh. Careful eyes wandered back to the floor beneath them, where Lee had picked stopped the tap of the redhead's gourd from hitting the wall. Back when they first met, it had been the young boy who'd kept the other two in line, clearly the one in control. And yet, now it seemed like Gaara couldn't bring himself to wait for even the couple of extra seconds that would take for the proctor to officially start the match. This was bound to get out of control.
"The final match of the prelims..." the man managed to get out between coughs. "Begins!"
For all of his goofiness, Lee was actually being cautious, using only the starting speed he'd used when fighting the Uchiha, as he launched headfirst towards Gaara only to be blocked off by...sand?
A large amount of sand that was moving with far too much control as it sent the Konoha genin flying back to the center of the room. Her mind whirled as the Kagome tried to recall a sand controlling jutsu in any of the scrolls the Uchiha had gathered about other clans and countries, only to come up blank.
"His attacks are not working at all..." the blonde whispered.
"All physical attacks are useless against him; because regardless of Gaara's will..." Another hit was swiftly blocked, all without any obvious effort on the Suna genin's part. "The sand becomes a shield and protects him... That's why up 'till now, there's never been a single person who's managed to put a scratch on him..."
That...could explain the fear his teammates felt towards the youngest genin in the team, when added to the feral nature she'd felt emanating from the boy...well, things just suddenly made sense.
"Pure taijutsu is probably not going to work," Kagome said, her gaze still locked on the two fighters. If the sand worked on its own, then genjutsu was most likely out of the table as well. "Then again, how fast would a projectile have to go to be able to get through that barrier...perhaps if ninjutsu were to be mixed with it?"
"That's not an option Lee has." Maito Gai had made his way back to them, leaving his other student alone at the far end of the balcony. "After all, he can't use them; he has almost no skill for anything other than physical fighting techniques. "
The girl kept a frown at bay; she didn't doubt the green-spandex genin was a strong fighter (she'd seen enough evidence about it with her own eyes). However, her instincts had kept screaming at her to stay away from Gaara. Almost as loud as they'd been when facing Orochimaru.
No, she sincerely doubted anyone within her age-range could be capable of defeating him. Had it been her matched against him, the girl would've likely conceded the fight from the start; reputation be damned.
An unconscious defense meant the redhead only needed to use the bare minimum of energy to keep it up, and unlike her own unique talent that lashed out based on her emotions, the sand seemed to have much more direction and control. The thing could also become solid enough to stop the kicks and hits from reaching their target. Yes, there was a small spray of sand whenever Lee's hit's connected, but the amount was almost laughable; it had to feel like hitting a rock. The older teen's body would resent the rough treatment sooner or later. This was the kind of fights that had to be finished in one go...then again, Gaara didn't look like the kind of opponent that could be taken off guard in the first place.
"They're stalling." This match wasn't going anywhere.
"Not for long." The sheer confidence in the man's voice made her look up for a second. "Lee! You can take them off!"
"But!" the older genin yelled in reply, and was this really the best time to be engaging in conversation? "But Gai-sensei, that's only for a time when I must protect many precious people, isn't it?"
"It's alright!" Gai screamed back; the girl barely managed to hide a wince at the volume. "I'll allow it!"
What exactly she was expecting from this, Kagome wasn't sure; watching the grin splitting the older teen's face as he revealed there had been weights on his leg warmers wasn't exactly it, though. Could that really be considered a trump card? Sure it could free some stamina, but...
"Alright!" Lee had the leg warmers in his hands, ready to let them fall. "Now I can move easier!"
For a second, the Higurashi heiress could hear the echo of the unexpectedly loud sound that made her think of an explosion. Dust temporarily filled her vision, hiding the place the two weighted leg warmers had fallen...
Then she reacted, leaning as much as she could on the railing as her eyes strained to try and see the damage done to the floor.
"S-sensei..." her voice faltered a little. "How much does something that small has to weight for it to cause that from such a small fall?"
"Probably more than you want to know..." Kakashi-sensei's words also trailed off.
It was true that training with weights on could help to both build strength and speed, but... there was supposed to be a limit to that, right?... How could Lee even lift his feet off the ground without tearing his muscles? Let alone move with the speed he did when fighting Sasuke?
Shock was still going through her, even as some part of her mind realized she was far from the on;y one to let the not-interested facade.
And then, she lost sight of Rock Lee.
Maito Gai was, according to all their records, an accomplished jounin (even if the man had never aimed for ANBU), with a taijutsu specialization and an eccentric and loud personality. He also was, Sesshoumaru realized, completely out of his mind. Because he knew he'd felt no chakra coming from the young Konoha genin, meaning the boy had to be doing it all with brute physical strength alone. Not even his father would be convinced to try and lift something like that without some sort of aid, let alone give it to someone that age.
Golden eyes flickered between the craters created by the weights and the actual fight.
According to his team's report there had only been three teams in this exam worthy of mention; the first one, where the Higurashi heiress was placed for evident reasons. The Oto team that had just been entirely disqualified was the second one, more because of who was moving their strings than anything else. The last one...if he was being entirely honest with himself, Sesshoumaru had wondered if maybe Miroku had made some kind of mistake with his observations. After watching how useless the team selected by Orochimaru himself had been, the heir of the Taisho clan couldn't help but question if perhaps the bar had been set so low that the con-artist's expectations were easily surpassed.
Watching the redhead remain still as the sand from his gourd continued with its automatic defense, the elite shinobi had to admit he'd been hasty in disregarding Miroku's words. The shield was beginning to show signs of strain, fists and kicks no longer being stopped long before they could get near the Suna genin. It was more like the sand was barely managing to catch and stop the motions just before they touched them. Not even half of the participants in this place would be able to reach this speed, though.
When the news of a team finishing the second test shortly after it started, the silver-haired shinobi had dismissed them. With a good tracker and a bit of luck, it would only take speed to achieve such a record, but...Gaara's eyes were not moving to the places the sand moved to, only glancing that way after the fact, and his arms were still crossed. His defense likely wasn't a conscious one, no matter how unlikely that sounded. Even if he was now struggling to keep up with the green-spandex-clad kid, no halfway decent shinobi would save without having some kind of ace under their sleeves.
At last, one of Rock Lee's kicks connected, bypassing the rushing sand and landing straight to the back of the shorter nin's head.
He would give the kid some credit for his speed.
The next punch actually managed to get the shorter genin flying, the sand shield completely incapable of keeping up with his opponent's movements. One quick glance towards the redhead's teammates (though for some reason one of them had moved to the heiress' group) showed more than just shock. He should know; Sesshoumaru had seen that emotion often enough in the faces of his own enemies. There was no reason to guess as to why... there was strong bloodlust radiating from the shorter boy.
Suna's hidden village was one that had faced far more hardships when compared to the rest from its very creation. Thanks to its unforgiving location and climate, it wasn't only hard for people to live there, but trying to cultivate any kind of vegetation was all but impossible. With almost all of their food being imported the price of just surviving became almost too much for the community to bear. As a result, the amount they charged for missions tended to be higher than most other villages, and because of that, requests failed to come with the same frequency. It was far easier to wait for a week or two for the shinobis from another country to make their way to Kaze than it was to pay their wages. It was partly in deference to their situation that the Taishos rarely accepted assignments from that particular country. Only ever takin two or three a year (at most), and that was done more as a reminder that while the clan was being benevolent, they still had full rights to roam as they desired. His father also made sure to take the ones that were unlikely to be taken by the village.
It wasn't surprising to find that Suna's ninjas were, on average, somewhat more skilled when compared to the ones coming from other villages. He sorely doubted that was the only reason behind the younger boy's increasing bloodlust, his other two teammates, while talented, hadn't displayed it after all. If any jounin had failed to notice it, Sesshoumaru's respect for foreign shinobis would reach new lows.
Pieces of hardened sand were falling from Gaara's face (it had softened the blow, he vaguely realized, the thing was covering him whole, and for all that it took the Konoha brat to finally land a decent hit, it barely seemed to make a difference). Golden eyes narrowed, this was most certainly not any old jutsu, and there was something definitely off about the redhead, something even his battle-honed instincts were beginning to react to.
There was not a single doubt in his mind now. Gaara of the Desert was a dangerous existence.
"If he gets caught by this Gaara," the less creepy of the Suna weirdoes said. "He'll be killed for the fun of it."
There was just something about how the painted nin said those words that had Naruto looking at his side. Kagome's posture was tense; her hands weren't using that much force to grip the railings, but the girl was beyond exhausted at this point, so it didn't mean that much. Hell, he could already see the cracks on her mask as her eyes refused to leave the fight below them with an intensity that had the blond wondering if she'd momentarily forgotten her usual anxiety thanks to whatever it was he was failing to perceive.
Not that the prankster could blame her.
Because the sight of the sand slowly moving away in a completely unnatural way to entirely cover every millimeter of the redhead's skin while the boy had that eery smile on his face was more than just disturbing.
"Hey! What's that?!" He didn't like acknowledging the puppeteer, but the Higurashi heiress had made sure to let him know how important information could be, no matter the source. "He blocked thick-brows' attacks with that earlier?!"
"That's the armor of sand." His answer left him just as confused.
"Armor?"
"Yeah, the armor of sand is a thin layer of protective sand that covers his entire body through his own will. It's different from the shield of sand that automatically protects him..." The older boy was tenser than before, to the point even Naruto could tell with a glance. "That's Gaara's absolute defense."
"There's nothing you can do against that then! There're no weaknesses!"
"Not exactly..."Kagome said from his right; her voice soft, almost like answering him was more an afterthought, like she was just speaking her thoughts out loud. "In theory, there should be a way...if that thing is moving according to his will, then it has to be consuming chakra, the amount of energy it has to take to move and solidify that much sand can't be small. Eventually, he'll run out of chakra...
"That said, having to maintain the kind of speed and strength Lee is using right now without using any chakra of their own...I don't imagine there's anyone alive that can keep that up for long."
"Wha...but then..." It would be the same, wouldn't it?
"That's a good analysis there." So why was the overly loud teacher any more worried? "But, you're missing something really important...you're thinking this is the most Lee can do."
At that, the older teen rushed forward, with even more speed than before. Cerulean eyes widened as he recognized the kick's stance that had started to launch the redhead into the air. A flickering memory of being stunned as Sasuke was played around like a rookie made it's way to the front of his mind. That first initial kick was followed by more, to make up for the extra weight of the sand, came the realization.
For a sliver of a second, Naruto thought he saw Lee falter, but it was gone as soon as it came. The bandages around his arms quickly wrapping around the shorter genin, completely covering him as it forced him to fall...the same fall Kagome had been desperate to stop before the first exam. And then they started spinning.
It was almost like watching a small tornado in front of him.
He almost covered his ears to protect them from the loud crash as they finally plummeted into the floor. Dust covered the air once more, but this crater couldn't be compared with the others.
"Is..." His mouth wasn't quite working like he would've liked. "Is he dead...?"
"Hey...no way!" This time, he could hear no cockiness in Kankuro's voice.
"Yes!"
Lee landed near the crater, waiting as the cloud of dust settled...and he felt just like he did back before they got to the written exam. The strength of the people who were competing here...the people he was standing beside was dawning on him all over again.
Yes, the boy was panting, but honestly, the blond doubted there were many who could take a hit like that and stand up again. This was all but over and done with...somehow, he couldn't shake the feeling that something was wrong.
Looking back to his side, the realization washed over him like ice water. Kakashi-sensei and Kagome were quiet...neither of them had uttered a word.
His gaze flew back to where the lower floor was becoming visible once more. He could see Gaara's body lying on the floor, cracks across his body from where the sand armor was falling apart...letting him see the emptiness inside.
"...when did he leave the sand?!" For once, he felt the loudness of the older teen's teacher was entirely justified. "There's no way Lee could've missed that!"
"It was when you closed your eyes to pray, Gai..." Wait...but that couldn't have lasted more than a second or two... "Lee's body stopped for a moment because of the pain, that was when..."
A mountain of sand flew over the redhead, straight to the older genin; towards Lee, who barely managed to raise his arms in front of him, being sent rashing against the wall with far much more strength than a bunch of sand should be able to create. Hell, there was smoke and dust coming from the literal hole on the wall. A heavy breath left him as he saw the other teen still in one piece.
'Wait, that wasn't that fast!" Naruto could've avoided that with no problems. "Why didn't he dodge it?!"
"That lotus technique is a double-edged sword."
"It's normally a forbidden technique; all that high-speed taijutsu puts a lot of stress on the legs and body," Kakashi-sensei continued when Gai trailed off. "Right now, he's feeling so much pain he can barely move."
"A technique used to finish a fight then." Kagome's words were simple, just stating a fact.
"Normally, yes." There was a bit of pity in their teacher's eye as he spoke. "To try this when you're not sure you can take your enemy out is the same as gambling with your life."
Streams of sand kept going after him, slamming against the floor...Lee's earlier speed almost sounded like a lie; this looked more like he was getting up after being hit than dodging now, and Naruto had trouble keeping quiet because after what he just saw...even after the power he just saw...did it mean it still wasn't enough?
And wait...was he...was he really smiling?
"Now, the tables will turn." Gai was also smiling, confident in every word. "The Lotus of the Leaf blooms twice!"
"You are finished here..."
"...either way..." Rock Lee spoke, too calmly replying to
Gaara's ultimatum. "This will end it."
He sounded absolutely sure, completely and absolutely confident that there was still a way for his student to win this fight...and yet, Kagome's certainty of the exact opposite was as unshakable as it had been when the match started.
Azure eyes wandered towards her teammate.
It shouldn't be possible, as far as she knew, there was no way such a thing should be possible. But when the sand armor finally cracked...the crazed bloodlust that radiated from the redhead had finally triggered a memory. A memory of Uzumaki Naruto losing control of the monster trapped inside him...of the way he'd moved through the crowds of ronins, leaving d a trail of bloody crimson behind him.
The Kyuubi was supposed to be an amalgamation of chakra.
More like a terrible natural disaster than an actual creature...and as far as she knew, there wasn't supposed to be anything else like it in this world. She knew what she was feeling, though. And while there was a distinct difference between them, this sensation felt too similar for her to dismiss.
Perhaps, she should just stop being surprised; it might be easier to assume everything they were taught was a lie.
Not like that would change the outcome of this fight. Because if the girl was right, then Gaara had shown only a small portion of his overall power. Regardless of what Gai-sensei said, with the older teen's body enduring the price of his earlier moves, and without the aid of chakra...what could there be that would allow the boy a chance to win?
"No way, Gai!" The loud voice of her teacher took her by surprise. "You..."
"It's just what you think."
"Then, that genin kid will..." Kakashi-sensei shook his head before continuing. "The eight celestial inner body gates..."
"Yeah...he will open them."
Kagome fought back a frown, regardless of her caretakers' real loyalties (or perhaps, precisely because of them), the amount of information the Uchihas had at their disposition, the amount of information she'd been studying since she learned how to speak, was all-encompassing. And yet, the girl couldn't recall any move listed with those names. That Kakashi-sensei knew what it was, meant it wasn't something newly developed by either the teacher or the student. And if the lazy man seemed genuinely perturbed by it, also meant whatever it was, it wouldn't end up well for either party.
"He had the ability."
"Even if he had the ability..." This was probably the first time she'd heard the man judge someone else. "Such a dangerous technique like that. The extreme lotus is one technique that shouldn't be taught!
"I have no interest in making you tell me what that kid means to you and your reasonings...but there are limits...I've lost respect for you."
The more useful the technique, the higher the price to use it; Kakashi-sensei had said something of the sort while teaching Sasuke about the bases of the sharingan. But at the same time, the jounin didn't deny the fact that the price was most likely worth it as long as you knew when to use it. It wasn't like their teacher was overly cautious and refused to take risks, so what the hell could be so risky for him to think it should be forbidden to even learn about it?
"What would you...know about that boy?" There was too much raw emotion in the other shinobi's voice; at some other point, Kagome would wonder how Gai ever made jounin with so little control over his feelings. "That kid has a precious thing that he would give up his life to prove, so I wanted to turn him into a man that could accomplish it...that's all."
"Gai...how many of the eight celestial gates can that kid open?"
"Five gates."
"Say," Naruto mumbled at her side. "what are these gates things?"
"I don't think I've ever heard the term before..."
"Would be surprised if you had." Kakashi interrupted their not so subtle conversation. "The Uchiha clan has never been too keen on self-destructive techniques." The man took a deep breath, probably trying to regain his calm facade.
"It's the limit removal that is done in preparation for going into the extreme lotus.
Oh...she had a feeling she could understand why their usually lazy teacher had reacted so strongly, and the more Gai continued with his explanations, the more she understood Kakashi's comment. He was right; there was no way Fugaku or Mikoto would teach any of the kids in their charge a technique like that. They may have seen them as nothing but pieces in their political game, but it was exactly because of that, this kind of jutsu would never be taught. After all, you can't win a game if you've broken your pieces to the point of uselessness. Removing the limiters that stopped the body from destroying itself with an excessive amount of strength was a definite suicidal move.
It also explained why Lee's movements were of such high caliber. The boy had to have pushed himself to the point of breaking, over and over, just to be able to open one of them.
"The initial lotus is done by opening only the first gates."
"Wait, wait...If that's the initial thing or whatever, then the extreme..." The puppeteer finally dared to speak to the jounins in their group, his eyes disbelieving as he pointed back to the lower floor.
"You release the brain's restraints with the initial gate, then, with the heal gate you forcibly raise your stamina...then, from opening the third, the life gate, you enter into the extreme lotus."
"Considering the condition Lee-san was left after opening just one gate..." For once, Kagome agreed with her teacher; because this technique was truly horrifying. "Am I right thinking the ultimate price of the extreme lotus...is your own life?"
"That's exactly it; the technique is the ultimate double-edged sword." Kakashi-sensei nodded behind her. "Opening all of the gates is called the state of the eight celestial gates, and for a short period of time, you'll gain strength that sur[asses even the Hokage, but in exchange, you will definitely die."
"Hold on, hold on..." Kankuro stammered as he looked between the two jounins and the battlefield. "I mean, yeah, this thing is important and all if you want to get promoted, but it's still just a stupid exam, right? There's gonna be another in six months; who'd be stupid enough to actually risk their life by using a jutsu like that in the prelims?"
"You would, to protect your life's purpose."
It was almost explosive, the feeling she got as the older teen finally made his move. His kin being painted by a vivid red the instant he opened the third gate. There was no denying the difference. In fact, whatever injuries had limited him before seemed to have disappeared in a heartbeat...but the price to pay...no, she would never agree to even try to learn something like that...
The floor underneath him began to break, the debris sent flying through the air around him for a blink before he moved.
It sounded like an explosion; it felt like one too.
Her tired arms raised reflexively as a gust of wind and pieces of the broken floor were sent all around the room. Smoke and dust covering almost the entire lower floor. Even the Taisho supervisor who'd remained stoic all this time had lifted an arm to block the stray pieces of debris.
She couldn't see Lee.
He might've as well just vanished as Gaara's body was flung into the air, barely out of the cloud of dust.
"Gaara!"
"Where are they?!"
"Above."
Sand was the only indicator as to Lee's position, as it failed to keep up and protect the Suna nin that was being constantly hit across the room. This was insane, they'd spent far too long suspended in the air, and it was just from pure physical strength. Lee had to be out of his mind. To go this far for a preliminary match...
Even without being able to see him, the Higurashi heiress could still see the patches of sand armor that were slowly being ripped apart. This was slowly becoming a battle of endurance, every hit Lee managed to connect was chipping away at Gaara's defenses.
Would the sand armor fall first...or would it be the boy's body?
For just a sliver of a second, Kagome thought she'd managed to catch a glimpse of green.
"This is the end!"
One more punch had the redhead flying, backward this time, though she could now see the piece of bandages tightly tied around his waist. The smaller boy was pulled upwards with an ease that shouldn't be possible in the first place. The shield of sand was way behind. It couldn't keep up. If Lee managed to put all his strength on this last attack, even the armor of sand wouldn't be able to stop all of it...if that was the case, then it wasn't so impossible to think that perhaps...maybe for the first time, her intuition had been wrong...it had never happened but...
Was it possible that...she'd been wrong...?
Crap, he couldn't see a thing.
Even if he could open his eyes and ignore the stupid amount of wind being thrown towards them, Naruto wasn't sure he would be able to actually see a thing.
His ears were ringing by the loud bang that erupted as a body finally crashed against the ground. All of the first floor was once again covered by dust. Damn it, he still couldn't see a thing. He did, however, hear Lee's grunt as he also fell to the ground. Silence spread through the room; he could almost hear his own heartbeat as the smoke began to settle. Slowly, he could begin to make out the form of the short redhead, a bunch of sand underneath him, and...the start thing starting to move as it followed a shaky hand motion.
This was bad.
Worse than bad.
The gourd was missing; it had have been made of...
Its movements were slower this time. The Suna nin had to be at his limits as well...but, this time, the older genin could barely crawl back as the sand wrapped itself around his left arm and leg.
The sound it made as the bones inside the sand grip were crushed was...different...Naruto had broken bones before; he remembered the sound they made when they snapped...but this was different...so fucking different...
And then, more sand was making its way towards him.
And the blond wasn't sure the proctor would be able to intervene this time.
The gust of wind behind him allowed him to take a shaking breath. Gai-sensei had managed to place himself between the battered genin and the sand. Getting rid of it with a wave of his arm, his face with an expression more serious than the blonde thought was possible for the man. Why, he wasn't sure, but Gaara seemed to flinch, hand flying to grab his head...the sight he made, with the cracks of his sand armor making it look like his skin itself was breaking, icy blue eyes glaring in hatred and pain...Naruto was sure he wouldn't forget that sight for a long time.
"Why..." There was genuine confusion in the redhead's voice. "did you save him?"
"He's my beloved student."
Silence followed Gai's determined words as the sand made it's way back to form the gourd. The guy stood up again like he hadn't just been punched into the air like a ball. Whatever had made him lose control had clearly passed, his voice deadly still once more.
"That's enough."
"Winner, Gaara of the Sand!"
It took his brain a second to process what he was seeing. Because it just seemed so absurd that Rock Lee would still be able to stand up, to take a stance with his arm limply hanging from its socket and a leg that was clearly useless resting on the ground...and yet...he was...
"Lee enough, it's over." Gai's voice was so soft Naruto could barely hear it. "You shouldn't be standing with that body..."
The words seemed to die in the jounin's throat; something had made him freeze with one hand on his student's shoulder. He couldn't quite see from where he was standing, but the blond was almost sure the man's own shoulders had begun to shake as silence met his voice.
"Lee..."Kagome's voice took him by surprise despite how soft she was speaking. "is unconscious I think..."
That was all he could handle; untangling his hand from the slender fingers his childhood had wrapped around his own in a comforting gesture, he jumped back down. Though this time, he knew, she wasn't going to follow after him. Oh, he still felt pissed, but he was far more worried about the older teen's well being to try and pick up a fight...after seeing Hinata...he really didn't want to have to hear the paramedics rushing to save his life.
"Medical team, please come here," the proctor called when the medics seemed frozen in their place. "Quickly!"
He stopped close enough to the boy, not entirely sure he wanted to get a closer look at the injuries...or to become a nuisance to the people working around him. At least, they weren't moving with even half the panic or rush they did when treating the Hyuuga heiress. Hopefully, that meant the loud teenager wasn't at risk of dying.
"You're his jounin instructor, right?"One of the medics called out to the jounin. "Please, come over here.
"He is breathing properly, but...he has shattered bones and torn muscles throughout his body...we could do something about it if that was the only problem, but...the damage to his left arm and leg where he was attacked is a grave. It's difficult to have to say something like this but...with his body...he will never be able to live as a shinobi again."
That...
That...was a lie...right?
This guy was strong, he was definitely strong, so there was no way that just like that, in a matter of minutes...
"N...no way..." The words weren't coming out of his mouth. "It must be some kind of lie...
"If that's so..then what's thick brows' supposed to do?!" He wasn't sure who he was screaming at...or what he thought yelling would do...but he had to. "He was always saying how he wanted to fight against Sasuke and that Neji guy...can't you do something about it!"
A hand covered his mouth, and there was a good chance he would've bitten it; had Kakashi-sensei's voice sounded behind him.
"...that might..." There was something odd in his voice, something Naruto couldn't place. ", have been what caused this tragedy. The decision to use forbidden jutsus to win at all costs...this is the result.
"To Sasuke, Neji-kun...and you too, Naruto...to fulfill the silent promise you all made to each other." The blond didn't want to hear what he was saying; he could do nothing but hear him. "He put his life at risk so that he could reach that final stage to fight all of you. Don't forget that."
Golden eyes narrowed as they followed the unconscious form of the teen being carried off.
It would seem; they had also given Suna too long of a leash when it came to keeping track of their assets. Something more to add to that report, no doubts, this was a mistake that needed immediate fixing. The redhead had clearly been hit over and over and despite all that, Gaara of the Desert was calmly making his way up the stairs again.
For almost dying, Rock Lee had barely scratched the surface of the shorter genin's abilities.
As it was, Sesshoumaru wondered if maybe even he would find it somewhat challenging to go against him. He certainly wouldn't send his team to face an unknown threat that could probably wipe all of the chuunin in this sorry excuse of a room, and probably a few jounin too without at least some inkling of information.
Suna was too retired and isolated for them to easily send permanent informants without running the risk of being found out, and straight out posting a shinobi there would be a waste of their resources...his mother would have to figure out a way to find the information he asked or deal the consequences of having his team retreat from the next part of the exam if they were to face him.
That was no normal prodigious genin...no way in hell.
OMAKE
"Not gonna go down there?" Kankuro eyed the girl that remained impassive to his right.
"It's not like I can do anything."
That was right, he supposed, though considering how her buddy reacted it was a bit..weird to see her so calm. Now that he thought about it, up until the moment the Konoha brat had opened the gates of whatever the girl had remained absolutely quiet. He'd come here because, for some reason, Gaara had shown an interest in the girl. And since the puppeteer lost his match, this was the one thing he could think of to try and pacify the freak that was his younger brother. His teacher had also advised caution when facing her, considering they didn't really know what her clan could do.
"You never thought he'd win...did you?"
It was an entirely common assumption to make if you lived in Suna, but for someone from this village, the beginning of the fight had to have looked like the Lee kid was going to win. So...why didn't she?
"...no...not for a second."
She turned to look at him; for a second, her eyes seemed glacial, even more than when she'd faced him back in the streets. It was a quick thing, one that most would have disregarded, but he lived with Gaara; he'd learned how the eyes of someone dissecting you in his mind looked like. There may not be any kind of bloodlust, but even as tired as the girl was, she clearly felt like she was the hunter here...
"Were you hoping he lost?"
The question took him by surprise. Almost jumping under that questioning azure stare that was starting to make him more than just uncomfortable. That's right...this was the girl that had spoken up even after Gaara had shown up...she'd been on guard but had confronted him nonetheless...
"O-of course not," he tried to scoff.
"Of course, just like how you aren't afraid of him." She was smiling, and Kankuro had to wonder if it wasn't her who was getting the information here, because it certainly felt like it.
"Kankuro."
This time, he jumped.
Fuck, he hadn't heard Gaara making his way up the stairs, and this just proved her point. "A-ah, yes, let's go."
He stopped when his brother didn't move, instead of staring at the girl with as much hunger as he'd done when they first met. Unlike that time, this time she didn't look nearly half as on guard...oh, she was wary alright, but the puppeteer would bet Karasu that she was more curious than scared this time...
A/N: And we're officially done with the prelims! Man I had to change POVs in this chapter more often than normal since I wanted specific characters to react to specific things but I think it works out...I hope so anyway. And yes, Sesshoumaru cares for his team, in his own way and he's happier when they're 15 meters away from him but that doesn't mean he would send them blind against someone who's proven more dangerous than expected. More interactions between Kagome and Sasuke and the Taisho team are definitely coming as well.
Hopefully from here on out there won't be as many tournament style battles since there are way fewer matches in the final and the only ones I plan to show are the ones that are relevant to the story or for character development, everyone else will be coincidentally scheduled after Gaara's fight, and therefore will be interrupted by the Suna invasion, hahaha.
As always, thank you guys so much for reading, and every review/comment/criticism is greatly, greatly appreciated