Please Enjoy and I only own Ami and her unique Justus. The chapters of the story will occasionally combined some episodes in to one. Sorry for the shortness of the chapter but there wasn't much I was able to do.
Chapter 15: - A Truly Splendid Ninja
I arrived back in the main room and headed up to the balcony that my team was on, as I got closer to them I lifted my head up and put my fake smile back on. Only for it to slip right off when I saw Lee doing some sort exercises and was really happy about something.
"You're chipper," I stated, catching everyone's attention. Lee looked at me a bright smile on his face.
"I am going to be fighting next Ami," Lee informed me. I nodded and looked down to see if his opponent was in the ring when my face pale as my sapphire blue eyes locked with aquamarine eyes. Lee was going passed me when my hand snapped out and grabbed Lee's wrist.
"Please, be careful. He's unlike anyone you have ever faced before, so please Lee, be very careful," I pleaded with Lee. He looked at me unsure, for moment, before he sent a smile and a thumbs up, before tearing out of my grip and jumping over the rail.
"Ami is everything ok?" Sakura gently asked. I swallowed the lump that had formed in my throat before looked at my teammate, worry swirled in her green eyes.
"We'll see," I responded hoarsely, as I turned my attention to the match. Lee assumed the same stance he did against Sasuke, suddenly something was thrown at him and he caught it.
"Why are you in such a hurry?" Lee questioned, as he let the object fall to the floor, I saw that it was the plug for Gaara's gourd. The tension in the room thickened heavily before Hayate declared to start the match, Lee charged forward and attempted to use his Leaf Hurricane but a wall of sand shot up preventing the attack from hitting Lee.
Lee landed on his feet but had to quickly dodge out of the way as the sand lashed out at him. He landed and skidded back a few feet, as the sand retreated into the gourd.
"What is that?" I heard Ino ask.
"It's sand," Sakura answered her rival, shock evident on her face.
"That… that nightmare, not again," I heard Shino's voice whispered. My eyes darted over to the bug user in surprise that he had seen Gaara fight… and lived to tell the tale.
Lee went in for another attack, launching as series of powerful kicks and punches at his target, however not of them were fast enough to break through the sand barrier that continually rose to protect Gaara. The sand then went in to strike Lee, but he saw it and pulled out a kunai slashing through the sand attacks, dissipating them before they struck.
He launched another kick but it was blocked once more and then Lee had to quick dodge when the sand gathered together and went to attack him. Lee successfully avoided the attacks and threw shuriken at Gaara but they were also blocked.
"Even as fast as he is, Lee can't get anywhere close to him," Sakura stated. I nodded my head, I could tell that Lee was becoming agitated by not being able to hit Gaara.
"Well is that all?" Gaara questioned, his voice drawing everyone's attention, "I hope you haven't finished entertaining me. We haven't had enough blood," Gaara added on. The sand that lunged at Lee, he jumped into the air but this time the sand caught him and flung him around before throwing him into the wall behind Gaara.
He managed to pull himself up but had to quickly roll out of the way to avoid the sand, he then charged and attempted to strike Gaara again, not seeming to realise that the sand was constantly protecting him, not matter what.
"I don't get it, he's only using Taijutsu. Can't he see that's never going to work?" Sakura questioned, as Lee unleashed another barrage of fruitless attack. "Why doesn't he get some distance and use Ninjutsu?" Sakura continued asking.
"Yes, that might be a good idea, that is if he had any," Guy stated, catching our attention. "Lee has no Ninjutsu or Genjutsu skills at all," Guy revealed. Shock rushed through me as I looked back at the boy.
'So he's just like brother.' I thought. Lee continued to unleash his attacks, refusing to give up, I heard Guy and Sakura continue talking but their words didn't register, my attention was solely focused on the fighting below me. The sand lunged at Lee once more forcing the boy to flip backwards to avoid it, however the sand got slightly ahead of him and his foot landed on it causing him to slip and fall. The sand began to descend of the fallen ninja and completely buried him… until I looked up and saw his form spiralling through the air and landed on the hand sign monument behind him.
Guy stated that Lee was a winner because of his Taijutsu-specialised skills, he then order Lee to take 'them' off, which confused both me and Sakura, Lee was unsure until Guy told him it was fine. Lee removed the orange leg warmers he had on to reveal that strapped to his legs were weights.
I was confused, leg weights were basic training equipment, how was removing them going to help Lee. I got my answer the second they hit the floor causing a short earthquake and leaving behind two massive craters. I think everyone was shocked by this event, but what shocked me more was that Lee's speed had increased so drastically that he could almost match me at my fastest speed when I was augmented.
This drastically increased speed helped Lee to be able to break down the walls of sand, as quickly as they formed, in fact the sand couldn't keep up with Lee's speed. Guy explained that when he realised Lee had no Ninjutsu or Genjutsu abilities they focused on Taijutsu only and now Guy claimed he was the world's greatest Taijutsu specialist, I couldn't hold in the snort that came out, attracting my teammates' and Guy's attention.
"I mean no disrespect to Lee for I can see that he is a truly splendid ninja, but he's not the best, my brother is. Lee is good but my brother is better," I stated. I could see that Guy was sceptical but we focused all on attention on the match, just in time to see Lee actually hit Gaara for the first time, by kicking him in the face and cutting his cheek.
Everyone was shocked by what happened, Lee went in against and Gaara began to fight back, but Lee was able to get through the sand again and landed a punch to Gaara's face, sending him to the ground. Gaara rose to his feet, the sand spilling rapidly out of the gourd, his head was bowed but I could see something falling off of Gaara's face, suddenly a strange feeling crept up my spine and my hands clenched the railing tight.
'This isn't good, this feeling, it's must like that night.' I realised, worry coursing through me. Gaara raised his head to reveal that it was covered with sand that was crumbling and falling away, a mad glint shone in his eyes and a wild smile adorned his face.
"It's like a shell made of sand," Kakashi-sensei stated. Sakura was terrified I could tell that from the air alone, the fear was palpable in the air… along with blood-lust. The sand rose from the ground and began to form itself to fit on Gaara and making him a new set of Sand Armour.
"Well is that all?" Gaara asked. Lee remained still for a moment, as he analysed the best tactic to fight Gaara with, he then began to unwrap his arm bandages, I raised an eyebrow wondering if the Primary Lotus would work against Gaara. Lee then began to run around Gaara at such a fast pace that it was leaving a trail of dust behind.
Lee then slammed his foot into Gaara, getting him partially in the air, but unlike Sasuke and Dosu he didn't float, meaning that Lee had to swiftly slam him with multiple kicks to get him high enough. The sand attempted to follow them but it couldn't keep up with Lee as they just went higher and higher, almost approaching the ceiling.
I saw that Lee flinched at one point before he wrapped his bandages around Gaara and began to spiral them back down to the floor, they slammed into the ground, creating another crater and raising a huge dust cloud. Lee landed on the edge of both, breathing heavily but otherwise unharmed, whilst Gaara had cracks coursing all across his body.
Everyone was cheering but the feeling didn't fade away and I knew that it wasn't over just yet. I was proven right, when only seconds later, the Gaara that had been attacked began to crack and fall apart, and turned into sand.
"What the?!" Sakura exclaimed in surprise, as the dust cleared. "An empty shell!" Sakura continued
"When did he do it?" Guy asked, confused as to when it could have happened.
"It was when you closed your eyes to pray. At that moment Lee closed his eyes too, because of the pain. That's when he did it," Kakashi explained. Sand rose up from behind Lee, falling away to reveal the red-haired sand ninja, he formed a hand sign and the sand surged upwards before arcing down towards Lee, it slammed into him forcing him backwards.
I saw that Lee's legs were shaking and I realised that the Lotus must have had some effect on his muscles as he was unable to properly dodge the sand, especially when it attacked him again, in the form of a tidal wave.
"I don't get it! What's Lee doing just standing there? With his speed, he should be easily able to get out of the way of those blasts, why doesn't he dodge them?" Sakura questioned. I glanced at Guy wondering if my theory was correct.
"For a very simple reason. He can't dodge them," Guy stated. However this just confused Sakura even more
"The Lotus is what you might call a double edged sword. You know it's a forbidden technique, why do you think that is? The Lotus isn't Ninjutsu or Genjutsu it's Taijutsu, requiring extreme physical effort, the strain it puts on the body is unimaginable no one can sustain it for long. Right now Lee is in so much pain he can hardly move at all," Kakashi-sensei explained to us. "Isn't that right Guy?" Kakashi questioning the other sensei.
"But... but that means," Sakura began to says.
"He's doomed," I finished. The sand had pulled back, revealing a small alcove with Lee holding out his hands, having obviously used them to protect himself, the sand then went in for another attack and lee was barely able to dodge out of the way.
"No Ninjutsu or Genjutsu," Sakura stated, to nobody in particular.
"All he's got is Taijutsu and not much of that," Ino continued on
"There's no way he can win this," Chōji stated.
"Win? He'll be lucky to survive," Shikamaru spoke up.
The continued to pound into Lee, relentlessly drawing, cries of pain from the young boy, as I watched I couldn't help but be drawn into one of my memories.
*Naruto*
The morning mist still lingered even as late into the day as it was, the sun barely able to cut through the thick fog. I dipped the bucket into the cold water in front of me, I barely registered the stinging sensation of the frigid water. After pulling the bucket out of the water, I turned to my companion.
He was going through a kata, seemingly lost in the fluid movements but he was alert to everything around.
"Nii-san," I called out to him. He stopped in the middle of his kick and lowered it to the ground before turning to me.
"Yes Ami?" He responded.
"Why can't I bet you, all you use is Taijutsu whilst I can use everything?" I asked in my innocent naïve mind. My brother smiled his green eyes sparkling with the kindness he so rarely showed to others unless it was Otōsan.
"Ami, just because you can use all of a ninjas abilities does not make you the strongest, even with just Taijutsu you can be powerful, so long as you find your strengths and build on those whilst making sure that your weaknesses aren't detrimental," Brother explained. I smiled at him and he ruffled my hair before we began to head back
*Naruto*
Another sand attack was launched at lee and it sent him flying backwards, Lee struggled to his feet but he kept his arms in front of him to protect himself from the attacks, however Gaara simply laughed.
"What good do you think that'll do?" Gaara questioned. I watched as Lee was flung back and pounded into the ground by the sand once more, I felt tears prickled at the corners of my eyes, Lee who was stubborn, determined, brave and kind, he reminded me of my brother that it was painful for me to watch him be attacked like this.
"He can't go on, make him quit before he gets himself killed!" Sakura cried out. I pulls the tears back refusing to let them fall, the sand went in for another strike but Lee was able to use his speed and dodge out the way. "Lee smiling, he's running for his life but he's still smiling!" Sakura exclaimed in shock.
"Yes, but now it's Gaara's turn to run. The Leaf Village Lotus blooms twice," Guy stated. That triggered the memory of Lee in the Forest of Death and what he promised Sakura, however this disturbed Kakashi-sensei who forced Guy to reveal that Lee could open the Eight Inner Gates.
"What?!" I cried out in shock, knowing the power that the Gates held. Guy stated that Lee could open five of the Gates, but that didn't lessen my worry one bit, Sakura asked what the gates where, so Guy answered.
"The Eight Gates are like valves or chakra limiters that must be opened, if one is to release the Hidden Lotus," Guy explained. However Sakura was still confused, I saw Kakashi-sensei had lifted up his head band which always covered his left eye and know I knew why, embedded in the eye was a Sharingan.
"There are gates along the Chakra Network located at were the chakra is most heavily concentrated, starting at the head they are the Gate of Opening, Gate of Rest, Gate of Life, Gate of Pain, Gate of Closing, Gate of Joy, Gate of Shock and Gate of Death. These are what are called the Eight Inner Gates, their purpose is to limit the flow of chakra through the body but the Lotus exerts tremendous pressure on these limiters, eventually forcing the gates open this releases the restrains on the chakra, the result being that a person's strength can be increased ten-fold or more," Kakashi explained.
Guy continued on saying that the Primary Lotus only opened the First Gate, whilst the Hidden Lotus opened the Second and Third Gates. Sakura realised that only the Primary made it so that Lee could hardly move and Kakashi revealed even if by opening all Eight Gates and gaining power beyond a Kage, the price to pay was death.
Suddenly chakra became tangible around Lee, it was so powerful that I could actually see it and the pressure this chakra exerted was so powerful that it caused the ground underneath to crack, and Lee's face became a pale red colour with veins visible on his face.
Lee then charged at Gaara, shattered the ground and causing smoke to rise whilst also sending out a shockwave. I threw my arms up to protect my face, but I was stunned by what had happened. Once we could see, everyone realised that both Lee and Gaara had vanished, looking upwards I saw Gaara coming out of the dust cloud, his armour cracking and floating in mid-air.
The sand slowly rose to protect Gaara, however Lee swiftly punched him which sent him flying through the air before punching him again and eventually Gaara was being punched or kicked, left, right and centre, with Lee moving too fast for me to be able to see.
"His muscles are tearing themselves apart," Kakashi stated. I watched as Lee dealt a fierce blow to Gaara sending him flying straight to the ground but Lee caught a hold of the white cloth he wore with his bandages. Gaara sand practically crawled at a snail's pace to reach him.
Lee then pulled the sand ninja towards him and dealt another blow, sending Gaara flying down and sending up a thick cloud of dust along with another shockwave. I had to raise my arms once more to protect myself, when the dust settled, Gaara was falling to the ground however sand began to spill from the gourd.
Both boys impacted onto the ground, Gaara sent up another cloud of dust whilst Lee rolled over the floor completely still. When the dust around Gaara settled, we saw that he was fine, completely protected by a bedding of sand, Gaara shakily raised his arm and the sand rushed towards the crippled Lee who tried to crawl away but it was impossible due to the damage to his muscles.
I watched in fear as the sand latched on to Lee's left arm and leg, Gaara then closed his fist and the sand crushed the limbs it held, Lee cried out in pain and was sent flying back across the floor and was completely unmoving. I saw the sand crawling towards Lee ready to finish it off. Moving before anyone could stop me, I jumped down in front of Lee and placed myself in the sand's path, however someone appeared in front of me, when the sand dissipated, and I looked up to see Guy in front of me
"But why, he failed, why save him?" I heard Gaara question. I looked at the ninja before me, panic surging through me at his wounds as the crimson life giving fluid spilled from his leg.
"Because he's my student and because he's precious to me," Guy stated. This confused Temari greatly, I looked up to see Gaara walking away, declaring that he quits, however Lee had already lost the match. I saw movement out of my vision and I looked up in sheer shock to see that Lee was standing ready to fight.
"No Lee it's alright," Guy said as he walked up to his student, I stepped aside to let him through. "It's all over now, anyway you're in no condition to…," Guy began to console but stopped as Lee's head rose and we both realised the same thing. "Lee," Guy choked out and he began to cry, as we stared at Lee's blank eyes showing that he was completely and utterly unconscious.
I turned away refusing to intrude on the teacher and student moment but my eyes meet Gaara's, he glared at me. I turned around to see Guy placing Lee on the floor, I knelt down beside him, followed by the proctor and I glance up to see Naruto running towards us.
We all cleared out of the way so that the medics could attend to him, I clenched and unclench my hands unable to do anything with them, until I had a grip on something solid. One of the medics called Guy over and I could only assume it was to talk in private about his condition, leaving me and Naruto alone.
"Ami?" Naruto asked.
"He reminds me of my Nii-san, I had to protect him," I explained. Naruto nodded, I looked at the blonde and we remained still with our minds preoccupied with thought of our fellow ninja.
I looked up when I heard the head medic telling Guy, Lee's condition, it was bad so bad in fact that Lee's days as a ninja… were over. The medics lifted him up and began to carry him out of the room, I saw Naruto shaking and so I did the only thing I could think off, I reach out and held onto his hand.
Naruto began to yell as Lee was carted out, pulling his hand from my grasp, Kakashi-sensei stepped in and talk him down. We left the floor so that the final match between Dosu and Chōji could begin, I didn't pay much attention as I was still struck by what had happened to Lee, all I knew is that Chōji attempted to flatten Dosu with his Human Boulder jutsu but it backfired and Dosu was able to win.
The preliminaries had finished and all the winners were called down to the floor, we were congratulated on winning, the Hokage then began to inform us of the final round.
"In the final round each of you will put your battle skills on display, you'll demonstrate the power and control you've achieved in your respected disciplines. Accordingly the final battles will take place one month from now," The Hokage stated.
"Wait we're not going to doing it right here and now?" Naruto questioned.
"This is to provide a suitable period of preparation," The Hokage responded.
"What do you mean by that?" Neji asked.
"Simply this, in addition to announcing the conclusion of the preliminary matches to each countries' leaders, we must also have some time to prepare and distribute the summons to the final selection, not to mention that you examinees are going to need some time to prepare for something this important," The Hokage explained.
"Look I don't really get what you're trying to say," Kankurō stated. The Hokage explained that since we had just seem each other fight we would need time to train and prepare for the final battle. I saw in Naruto's eyes that he was fiercely determined to do his best in the next match.
Anko approached us with a box holding slips of paper, as she went along we each removed a single piece, on the slip of paper I pulled out was a number. Ibiki then told us to call out our numbers
"I've got eight," Dosu stated
"Number one of course," Naruto continued.
"Ten," I stated.
"Seven," Temari followed.
"Five," Kankurō continued.
"Three," Gaara called out.
"Nine," Shikamaru followed.
"Two," Neji continued.
"Six," Shino finished.
"And that means Sasuke will be number four," Ibiki stated as he continued to write something down on the pad he held. Ibiki revealed that the pad he held was the match-ups for the final round and that it was to work like a tournament. The matches were Naruto vs. Neji, Gaara vs. Sasuke, Kankurō vs. Shino, Temari vs. Dosu and Shikamru vs. Me.
'It appears that those of the last three matches will have to fight each other to determine who moves on.' I realised. After Shikamaru questioned the Hokage about who would become Chūnin, he revealed that it was a test of skill not who won, everyone could become a Chūnin or no one would, we were then dismissed.
I walked out ready to leave, when I felt a hand land on my shoulder, I turned to see Naruto and Sakura behind me. There was a strange look in their eyes, which put me on edge.
"Ami, what you said in your match that you didn't care about your life, what did you mean by that?" Sakura shyly asked, as if she was scared of what I would do.
"I mean I have nothing to live for," I responded. This earned a shock look from Sakura and a confused one from Naruto.
"What do you mean by that?" Naruto asked. I sighed and looked down.
"I mean that I have no family, no friends, no dream, no purpose keeping me alive, I have nothing," I stated. They're faces reflected the shock, I then turned and walked away from them, hoping to get some rest before doing anything else.