~Scroll 17~

Rock Lee bowed his head as he heard his Master's warning echo in the back of his mind. His wrist wrappings began to come undone. Master Gai… The teen thought, the time has surely come for me to use the forbidden skill you taught me… and not hold back! Because he knew that if he did then Sakura would die at the hands of these Oto-nin.

I'm defending the life of someone who means the world to me!

The Konoha shinobi crouched down, locking gaze with his enemy.

"Where'd he go?!" Dosu gasped when he lost sight of the brunette.

POW!

Dosu's head snapped back when he felt a powerful kick connect.

"I'm not done with you yet!" Lee whispered as he appeared behind the Oto Genin.

The wrappings tied and bound the hunched shinobi.

The two came crashing down, head first.

"He's wide open…" Zaku frantically weaved a series of hand-seals, "can't make a move to defend himself! Oh crud!"

"Take this!" The Konoha brunette stated, "Forward Lotus Technique!"

The area exploded as dust and debris were kicked up into the air.

This… The teen quietly thought while he jumped away from the carter, does not feel… good… But he pushed away what his body was telling him.

"Whew…" Zaku visibly sighed in relief while his hands were plowed deep into the ground, "Looks like I made it…"

Dosu then pulled himself free from the ground.

"No way!" The Konoha ninja exclaimed.

"… what a terrifying technique…" Dosu remarked, "I managed to land on a pillow of soil… and it still almost wiped me out! But now…" The Oto nin stood up with his right arm extended out, "It's my turn…"

Lee winced. Oh… this is not good… that last move I did just toasted me. I've got nothing.

On instinct, the Konoha nin dodged an attack from the Oto shinobi.

"Your moves may be fast…" The brunette's body violently shook while the pinkette gasped in surprise as Dosu continued his taunts, "but ours are super-sonic! And muscles alone can't break down this wall of sound!"

Lee dropped to his knee while he threw up his minuscule breakfast.

"LEE!" Sakura cried out.

The Konoha brunette suddenly shivered when he felt something pop and trickle out of his ear. Clutching to his left ear, Lee glared at the hunched ninja as he tried to figure out what the Oto's trick was.

"It's this appliance on my arm…" Dosu showed off the strange metal cast around his right arm, "You see? It prevents you from blocking my attacks."

"What did you use on him?!" The pinkette demanded, causing the Oto ninja to laugh.

"It's sound!" Dosu answered, "Even if you block my fist, the sound waves reach you."

Sound?! Sakura gasped as she remembered her otouto clutching his ears when the Oto and Kabuto fought.

"Do you understand…" He sneered, "the fundamental nature of sound?"

"Vibrations…?" She answered.

"Precisely. When you hear a sound, it's actually those vibrations displacing the air, which trembles against you eardrum." The hunched shinobi lectured and continued on how the human eardrums could only withstand 150 Phons before rupturing and that extremely powerful sound waves could upset an individual's balance. Dosu then tilted his head to the side and smirked beneath his wrappings.

"Heh heh… and it will be some time… before your equilibrium returns."

"So, you see, crude, old-fashion physical arts…" Zaku darkly chuckled, "simply don't work against us."

Lee just glared.

"You did start out very well, though." The Oto ninja continued as he pulled his hands free from the ground, "It's rare for a foe to force me to reveal the nature of my techniques. But now the tide has turned against you!

"I can wield sound waves as a weapon…" He sneered, revealing a hole in each of his palm, "with enough force to crush entire boulders! And with a mere thought I can use sound waves to force air into the earth beneath me, transforming rock-hard soil into the softest kind of cushion… a far more elegant and effective art than your crude applications of brute force."

"And now…" Dosu charged, "it's your turn."

However, instead of charging at the Konoha teen, Dosu's target was Sakura.

The pinkette readied herself for the attack and the pain.

"Konoha Hurricane!" Lee cried as he kicked the Oto's attack aside, but the teen's injuries had crippled his attack's strength, causing the hunched shinobi to crow at his own attack's effectiveness.

The brunette just ignored his enemies' taunts as he blocked Dosu's punches.

"This arm of mine magnifies every little sound from within to the utmost limits. It's an amplifier… and not only that, but far from relying on the momentum of my arm's swing… I can use my chakra to direct its power toward my chosen prey, wherever he may lie!"

"AAUUGH!" Lee screamed as he dropped to the ground in pain.

"LEEEEE!" Sakura screamed.

"Now…" The Oto purred, "for the coup de grace!"