And now it was time for shitshow bloody match number 2. Well, not really, there was Chōji's match against Shigeri Miyato, but it ended quickly, Chōji won, so oh well. People were a bit distracted, because it was obvious who the last match of the day was gonna be.

Rock Lee vs Gaara

Gaara already made his way to the arena and told Lee to hurry up, but Lee waited until the screen officially named the match. Once it did Naruto and Sakura gave their encouragements and Lee jumped down the platform to face Gaara. It started with a bit of taijutsu, mostly Lee trying to punch at Gaara's sand wall and doing almost nothing. Gaara also started the counterattack and send waves of sand at Lee that he flawlessly dodged. He dodged and dodged and dodged until he reached the Hokage's platform when he jumped on the statue. Once he was there, Guy-sensei allowed him to take off his weights. And he did so with a bang, once the weights reached the ground they created 2 mini craters and clouds of dust. Everyone was shocked into silence.

Sakura whistled at the small display of power which seemed to shake everyone out of their surprised silence. Sasuke looked weirdly at her.

"What?" she said. "It was impressive." He just shook his head.

After this Lee became a lot faster, every punch and kick he threw almost managing to hit Gaara. The poor Sand shinobi was confused as this flurry of of kicks and punches kept on breaching his defenses. Eventually, Lee got behind Gaara and landed a spectacular punch on him that knocked him down a few meters. However this proved to be slightly futile as Gaara introduced everyone to his ultimate defense Suna no Yoroi. Gaara covered his body in a layer of sand, wearing it like armour. Although it defends him from attacks that bypass his Shield of Sand, maintaining it consumes a great deal of chakra.

At this Lee decided pull out his own secret card and started to unravel his bandages in order to perform Front Lotus. If Lee wasn't considered fast before, now he definitely was. The genin became a blur as he circled Gaara and gained more speed. Then he kicked Gaara higher and higher in the air up until his sand shield couldn't keep up with the speed. At peak height he wrapped Gaara in bandages, flipped him upside down and corkscrewed the both of them towards the ground. Everyone thought Lee won as they watched the shocked figure of Gaara lay motionless on the cracked ground. That is until it started cracking apart and everyone realized it was all sand.

Then Gaara emerged from behind looking pissed and started pummeling Lee with sand waves. Guy explained that the lotus was very strenuous on the body and that Lee could not move. Yet it seemed that Lee wanted to prove everyone wrong as he started yet again dodgin Gaara's sand. Gaara gained a maniac and licked his lips as he managed to catch Lee again and toyed with him again as waves over waves of sand hit Lee head on. And just when all hope was lost, Lee's movement officially returned and his body became red as he opened the third gate, The Gate of Life. And then the fourth gate, The Gate of Pain. Once he did that, he became even faster as he kicked Gaara and managed to completely destroy the arena. Everyone was looking around confused as they couldn't see anymore until Shikamaru pointed them above, where Gaara was shown ascending with his sand following close behind as it couldn't keep up with the speed. Lee realised that Gaara was using the sand armor trick again as he flashed in front of the sand shinobi and started kicking him yet again. He used pure speed to jump around and in the air and kick Gaara with unmeasurable power and speed. He was like a tennis ball bouncing around and Lee was the walls that kept throwing him around. It was madness. Kakashi and Sasuke had their Sharingans open and Neji had his Byakugan open as well, they were probably the only ones that could keep up and see what was happening. Then Lee opened gate of The Gate of Closing, caught a piece of Gaara's clothing and used it to maximize the power of the finishing blow. However, just as they were descending, the gourd turned to sand which was then used to cushion Gaara's fall.

Gaara was standing in a crater surrounded by his sand while Lee tried to catch his breath a few meters further. However there was no time for that as sand started advancing on him, the leaf genin tried to move but he couldn't. Eventually, the sand reached him and crushed both his left arm and his left leg. Lee cried in pain before fainting, it seemed Gaara was going to deliver the finishing blow when Guy intervened. Sakura then put a leg on the railing, ready to jump down but Kakashi caught her hand from behind.

"Let the professionals handle it Sakura, you already did enough for one day." said the jonin.

"Kakashi-sensei please! I just want to help!" said the pinkette.

"Yeah, come on Kaka-sensei, Bushy Brows could be dying for all we know! Let Sakura-chan help." said Naruto and even Sasuke was giving his own silent support. With all of this, Kakashi relented and let go of Sakura's hand. The medic jumped down immediately and ran past Gaara straight to Lee's side. She immediately crouched down and started healing him. However, Lee got back up again. This made Guy stop his conversation with Gaara.

"Lee, stand down please you're in no condition to fight anymore." said Sakura.

Guy immediately ran over to his student "Lee, it's alright. It's over." However Lee wasn't responding and that's when Guy realised he was unconscious. This made Guy cry and acknowledge that Lee was a fine ninja.

"Guy-sensei, lower him back down before he aggravates his injuries, he shouldn't put pressure on his leg." said Sakura, Guy nodded and lowered his student. He took a seat on the on the other side of his student and watched as the pink medic worked on his leg. However it seemed that this action snapped something into Gaara again as he roared and threw sand towards Sakura. The pinkett watched the incoming sand head on, looking at it with a fearless expression, determined to protect her patient no matter what.

"Sakura!" "Sakura-chan!" cried the Naruto and Sasuke, while Kakashi jumped down the platform.

However the sand stopped a few centimeters from Sakura's face as Baki stopped Gaara. The sand fell down harmlessly on the floor. Sakura started at the sand on the floor before returning to the task at hand, like a soldier on a battlefield. Eventually the slow medic nins came and took Gaara away. Now Sakura could finally relax.

Kakashi put his hand on Sakura's shoulder. "Are you ok Sakura?"

"I- uh... yeah... Yeah I'm fi-" and just then Naruto and Ino slammed into the pinkette.

"What the hell forehead? I thought you were gonna die, what was that? Why the hell didn't you move?" exclaimed Ino.

"Yeah Sakura-chan, I was very scared for you." said Naruto.

"I'm sorry I scared you guys, but I couldn't just leave Lee there, I promised myself I'll never let a friend die and I meant it." said Sakura. Then Sakura was offered a helping hand from Sasuke that she gladly accepted and let herself get pulled up by the Uchiha.

"Be more careful next time." said Sasuke.

"Got it."

Then, Hayate cleared his throat and told all of the winners to make their way down the arena. "Now we will begin the selection for the final exam, I would like you all to take a slip of paper from the box that *cough**cough* A-Anko is holding, in calm and orderly fashion." All of the genin put their hands in the box and took one slip of paper. "Now you may all read out loud the number that you received, starting with you." and he pointed at Neji.

"Number 2." said Neji

"Nine." said Gaara.

"I have number 4." said Temari.

"I have 8." said Sakura.

"Hn, 7." said Sasuke.

"Number 1 of course!" exclaimed Naruto.

"5." said Shino.

"Number 3, what a drag." said Shikamaru.

"I have number 10!" said Chōji.

"I've got 6." said Ino.

Hayate nodded then the screen started displaying the matches for the finals.

1. Naruto Uzumaki vs. Neji Hyūga

2. Shikamaru Nara vs Temari

3. Shino Aburame vs Ino Yamanaka

4. Sasuke Uchiha vs Sakura Haruno

5. Gaara vs Chōji Akimichi

Sakura and Sasuke stared at the screen in bewilderment before looking at eachother. Suddenly Sakura extended her hand towards Sasuke. Sasuke smirked before he shook her hand.

"May the best win."