After I woke and stood in the kitchen talking to Takashi I heard a really loud snoring coming from the loungeroom, I looked at him questioningly.
"... Oh that, yes well.. your friend seemed to have crashed on the lounge last night.. and I didn't have the heart to kick him out." Takashi said.
"... You kicked Daisuke-kun out.." I mumbled under my breath.
"What?"
"Nothing." I replied. I walked out into the loungeroom and saw Lee, snoozing on the lounge, his arm and leg hanging off, ready to fall off. He had the most peaceful expression despite his mouth hanging wide open. I walked up to him and sat on him. "LEE-SAN GET UP WE'RE GONNA BE LATE!" I shouted.
Lee jumped, his eyes snapped open and he shouted. "WAAAH GAI-SENSEI I AM SO SORRY I DID NOT MEAN TO SLE- ….. S-Setsuki-chan?" He asked, looking up at me.
"Morning." I giggled. I stood up.
"Where.." Lee sat up rubbing his eyes.
"My house.." I replied. He blinked.
"H-how did I get here!?"
"You fell asleep there lad." Takashi said, walking into the room.
"I.. did..?" He asked.
"Yup! It's okay. Did you get enough sleep?" I asked.
"I don't remember waking up at all.." Lee replied scratching his head.
"Then you did!" I grabbed his wrist and pulled him off the couch. "Time to get ready for some morning warm ups!"
"YOSH! 100 Sit ups- lets go!" Lee suddenly dropped to his butt and started doing sit ups right there. It was quite remarkable, to do that so quickly after waking up.
"... How do you two get that energy so early?" Takashi asked, the most astonished expression on his face. I stretched and laughed.
"It's because we're youthful!" I replied.
"Yosh!" Lee agreed.
At the finals, it was the same place as last time. Same rules, same conditions, etc. We stood in the sheltered area in the wall, after Tsunade's speech. I kept my eye on that Kei dude.. he leaned against the wall, his arms folded, and his eyes closed. I noticed the bandage on left his arm was rather.. roughly done too.. it was mysterious. I stood in a group with Lee, Tenten and Daisuke. The Sunagakure ninja stood on the other side of the room, giving an uneasy look towards Kei. Kei opened his cold, piercing eyes, staring straight at her. The Sunagakure ninja screamed which made everyone jump.
We all looked at her questioningly. Kei scoffed in his throat. "If you are such a coward... why are you here?" Kei asked, his voice almost as deep as Kakashi-sensei's, and his speech was monotoned and emotionless. There was tension in the room.
"I-I'm not a cow-" The Sunagakure ninja shrieked at Kei when he narrowed his eyes.
"What's the problem up there?" Genma asked from the arena.
"I forfeit!" The Sunagakure screamed before running from the room. Lee, Daisuke, Tenten and I looked between each other confused.
Tenten grimaced. "I don't trust that guy.. listen guys, if any of us have to battle him, be careful okay?" She muttered. We all nodded, thinking the same thing. I thought Gaara was scary, but this guy is worse.
"... We're going to have to change around the matches now.." Genma sighed to himself. He scribbled a few things onto his sheet of paper, then raised his voice to announce the changes. "The matches will now proceed as follows, Rock Lee vs Yamanaka Daisuke will remain the same, Kiyomizu Kei will now be versing Kuromizu Setsuki, and Tenten will be versing the winner between either match."
Daisuke and Lee glared at each other, then jumped down to the arena. They both got into stance.
"Begin." Genma spoke, then jumped back to the sidelines.
"Yosh! I am ready! Come at me, Daisuke-kun!" Lee shouted. Daisuke got a smug smirk. They started to talk, but it was very hard to hear anything because they were so far away. I could only watch their lips move, but I was not a good lipreader.
"Heh.. after I beat you, I'll have Setsuki-chan to myself." Daisuke teased. "Then you'll be the lonely loser who can't do anything but Taijutsu!"
Lee seemed to tense. "I.. I can defeat you using just that, Taijutsu! I will prove that I can be just as strong as an average ninja like yourself, Daisuke-kun!" He replied.
Daisuke snickered. "Average? I'm above average.." Daisuke hushed into a low voice. "And Setsuki-chan thinks so too~ she told me just how strong she thinks I am. Which is stronger than you."
Lee seemed a little uneasy. "Setsuki-chan.. she told me she believes in my strength, that is enough to get me through this fight! No matter how strong Setsuki-chan believes you are, I will prove to her that our training was not put to waste!"
Daisuke's smirk grew bigger. "Do you know why she trains with you? Do you know why she spends so much time telling you that you're 'good'? It's because she pities you. She sees just how much of a sore loser you are, so she pities you. She's a nice girl, she is only being nice to you. But deep down, she really sees you as some sort of dropout. Someone behind the crowd, who can't keep up with us. When she fights you she holds back, just to make you think you stand a chance. Sh-"
"ENOUGH!" Lee shouted at the top of his lungs, like he was upset. I wondered what they were talking about. His fists were clenched, and this force shot up from the ground, Lee started to glow a greenish colour.. I've seen this before.. the 8 Inner Gates! Why on Earth was he using this?!
Daisuke seemed to get a serious expression. "You've resorted to that so quickly? Have you already realized that you're too weak to defeat me!?"
"Gate of Opening, open!" Lee's aura grew stronger. His eyes turned white. "I will prove just how strong I have become! I will prove my worth by defeating you!"
Daisuke got into a defensive stance. Lee bolted at Daisuke, he was fast. He vanished for a split second before appearing under Daisuke, he kicked him up into the air, Daisuke seemed like an easy target. Lee used the Kage Buyō to appear behind Daisuke, and locked his arms around Daisuke, restraining his movements. Daisuke seemed to have expected all this.
"Primary Lotus!" Lee shouted, they begun spinning very fast, headed straight for the ground.
"You fool! I have you right where I want you!"
"What?!" Lee suddenly let go of Daisuke, then tumbled into the ground. Daisuke landed on his feet, a little dizzy, but stable. Daisuke moved his hands around, and Lee rose to his feet. It was almost like Daisuke was controlling Lee. "What is this?! I cannot.. I cannot control my body!"
"Inoichi-san was happy enough to teach me this new jutsu.. Mind Destruction Jutsu. You got so close I was able to put my chakra into your body, now I can control it. I can control you without having to transfer my conscience."
"I.. I must fight it!" Lee exclaimed.
"You had chakra coming out of your body.. it was simple enough to slip my chakra into it, and now it's already absorbed into your body. See, you're still a loser. There's no way you can win. I have you cornered, checkmate. Surrender."
"... I will never surrender!" Lee shouted, he stepped forward, surprising Daisuke.
"How did you... I mustn't have put in enough chakra.. fine, I'll do this the hard way!" Daisuke ran at Lee, Lee ran at Daisuke, at a much faster speed. Daisuke managed to quicken his pace enough to catch Lee's fist, but not fast enough to dodge Lee's kick aimed straight at his stomach. Daisuke bawled as he was send flying backwards, and crashing into the wall.
"You should not underestimate your opponents, Daisuke-kun!" Lee shouted, when suddenly another Daisuke appeared behind him.
"You're right." He sneered, the Daisuke that went flying was a shadow clone.
"H-how?! When!?" Lee questioned.
"You're mine." Daisuke flattened his hand, and slammed it into the side of Lee's neck, right on the nerve. Lee's eyes widened from the pain, the green chakra coating him disappeared, he fell, it was painful to watch because I saw a drop of water fall which seemed to be a tear from Lee. It reflected in the sunlight. Daisuke could see it too, he flicked it, causing it to shatter. "Tears of the weak.. I've won. You're still a loser, and you always will be."
I wanted to run out and see if Lee was okay, but I knew I would be disqualified if I did, and if I was to be disqualified, then Tenten would have to verse this Kei guy, and we all knew he is dangerous. I didn't want to put her in danger.
"Now Setsuki-chan is all mine. She'll never glance at you ever again.. she wont want anything to do with you. You've let her down. She spent all this time trying to make you stronger, and you just let her down. You put all that time to waste. Pathetic." Daisuke spoke to Lee as if he was still conscious. I couldn't hear what he was saying. Maybe he was telling Lee that he put up a good fight. I smiled, I liked Daisuke-kun because he's always so friendly. He's a great friend.
Kei suddenly vanished, into thin air. I realized it was our turn.. Tenten petted me on the shoulder for comfort. I nodded a thank you at her and jumped down after our names were called.
Kei was only a few metres away.. I felt scared.
"Begin." Genma spoke, then jumped to the sidelines. Daisuke was back in the room with Tenten to wait his next match, and Lee was sent to the medical room for treatment, but his wounds weren't serious.
"You'd best be a challenge kid.. don't bore me." Kei spoke. He took a step forward as getting ready to charge, when suddenly he was right in front of me, in a split second. I jumped, I didn't even have time to react before his fist almost crushed my stomach, I was sent backwards, and I tumbled on the ground.
"Setsuki!" Daisuke shouted, panicked. I tried not to let it get to me as I quickly rose to my feet. He was fast... I had to become faster if I wanted to defeat him.
Kei stood there, staring at me with his piercing ice-blue eyes. They sent shivers down my spine.
"Are you going to fight me.. or are you going to stand there like a scared mutt."
"I-I'm not scared!" I exclaimed. I thought of trying that jutsu I created, I've refined it and made it as powerful as a bullet. The spray of the water from it feels like thousands of sharp needles. I focus the chakra and perform the hand signs. "Suiton: Mizu Hebi!" I shoot a powerful gust of water in the shape of a snake, directly at Kei, at the speed of a jet. There's no way he could avoid that, this is my fastest and most powerful ninjutsu.
My eyes widened. He merely sidestepped, treated it like it was nothing! How could he move so fast?! The snake finally collided into the wall, creating a huge crack.
"See if that had've hit me.. it would've punctured my organs.. why do you look so surprised that I would evade something like that?" Kei mocked. I tried to ignore him, and ran at him. If I cant outdo his speed with ninjutsu, I had to try my luck with taijutsu. I threw some fast paced punches, but he blocked every single one, and countered, most of which I managed to either block or dodge. But his punches were heavy, they hurt just to catch.
Kei suddenly dived his hands forward and grabbed my shirt, pulled me in then punched me across the face and dropped me to cringe in pain. It almost felt like he broke my jaw, it was definitely numb with pain. I didn't know if I was going to be able to beat this guy.. Kei stood on the back of my neck, digging it into the ground. I coughed and cringed in pain.
"Do you give up?" He asked. I was thinking of it..