Although they both knew the Hyuga girl would be fine under the medical ninja, the mon—
No.
Shukaku still yearned for vengeance and the taste of blood, no matter the cost. Lucky for him, that came sooner than expected when Gaara was the next genin to fight. Shukaku didn't care who Gaara's opponent would be as long as some blood was shed.
The challenger was some Konoha boy in a strange green jumpsuit, bright orange leg warmers, and hair cut in a bowl style like one of the Konoha jounin. It didn't take a genius to realize that the jounin was his sensei, especially since they were dressed so identical to one another. From the constant shouting on the sideline, Gaara learned his name to be 'Lee'.
As soon as Lee walked onto the 'battle field', Gaara admittedly flinched in surprise. The teenager in front of him possessed such a small amount of chakra that it could be deemed as insignificant when compared to the massive amount Gaara contained.
No wonder the Konoha jounin and Third Hokage looked so worried. Based on chakra alone, Gaara could crush him like a bug.
This will be easy.
Despite Shukaku's over-confident boast, the fight ended up being a lot harder than he or Gaara expected. At first, Lee would feebly try punching or swinging at the Suna genin, with the sand easily blocking every strike. After becoming bored shortly after, the sand decided to retaliate by attempting to attack Lee.
Gaara didn't think Lee would be able to evade the sand with little to no difficulty. After a few moments of the swift evasive movements, Gaara watched as Lee landed on top of the hand statue. The sand returned back to Gaara once it sensed that the threat was gone. The fight looked nearly even—
Until Lee's sensei, Gai, gave him permission to try something.
Appearing completely overjoyed, the Konoha genin sat criss-crossed as he pulled down his orange leg warmers, removing training weights that were wrapped around each leg. Lee casually dropped the weights, allowing it to fall freely to the ground.
No one expected the massive collision to take place a few seconds later, or the gigantic creators that formed due to the weights.
Lee and his sensei had to be insane to think that was normal. No matter, that . . . excessive, training method proved to be effective. One moment, Lee proclaimed to feel much better. The next—
Gaara lost sight of the genin.
Even though he couldn't see him, Gaara's sand barely managed to block the incoming attack from behind him. By the time the Suna genin barely turned his head, the sand was blocking another attack from a different location. This vicious cycle and onslaught was so relentless that the sand could barely keep up—
Until it finally couldn't.
It was inky for a brief second. Lee somehow managed to trick the sand by faking an attack in one location before quickly changing direction. With one powerful kick to the face, Lee finally managed to connect a blow on Gaara—
With little to no effect.
To those watching, they were mildly surprised when Gaara's face started cracking away before small particles fell to the ground.
Sand.
It was another way the sand could protect Gaara. By creating a protective layer around his body, the sand would take any hits so Gaara wouldn't take any direct damage.
More pieces of that hardened sand fell from his face. The piece that had fallen away revealed yellow eyes with black four-pointed star pupils and the evilest snarl on his lips. Gaara heard the horrified gasps from his siblings and teacher, but only listened to his . . . friend's voice.
"Oh no," commented Naruto. "Gaara and his tailed demon, they're still angry. The match has to stop before it's—"
TOO LATE!
At that precise moment, Gaara lost control of his movements.
Now it was Shukaku's turn to have a bit of fun.
Feeling the one-tailed take control, Gaara allowed it as he sat back and watch the next few events unfold. The few grains of sand that were surrounding him morphed into large paws that looked exactly like a monster's. Noticing Lee's composure breaking, the sa—Shukaku, used it to his advantage. Before Lee could move or realize what was about to happen, one sand claw grabbed his leg while the other grabbed his arm. With a simple closure of his hand, the sand claws' grip tightened until a loud 'crunch' could be heard with Lee's scream of pain.
At the scream, the hand loosened back into sand grains and quickly fled back to Gaara, charging up before swooping in for one last attack—
But it never came.
Just as the sand was about to deliver the final blow, Lee's sensei—Gai-sensei—jumped onto the fighting floor and knocked it away with a simple swing of his arm.
Glaring at the Konoha jounin, Gaara demanded, "Why did you interfere! I was so close! Why did you save him?"
"Lee is my student," Gai-sensei proclaimed. "He is precious to me, so I won't let anything bad happen to him."
HOW PATHETIC!
Just a reminder that you will always be alone.
No! Gaara shouted at the monster. I am through with you always trying to tell me what to do. I'm taking back control and I am going to keep myself from being alone.
Really?
How do you plan on doing that?
Instead of directly answering the tailed beast, Gaara forced the sand to return to his gourd before turning his back to the Konoha sensei and injured student. Walking away from them, Gaara declared, "I quit."