"Impressive you"ve improved again Neji Nii Chan." Hinata said as she blocked his attacks, Neji being from the Hyuga clan also had access to the Pink Muscle Transformation Technique, so the two were near equal when it came to the strength of their physiques. Hinata then Flicker back as she released water senbons with her Jutsu, Neji surprised by this dodged out of the way. Hinata took this chance to close the gap between them and used another Water Jutsu."Exploding Currents!" A geyser of water appeared from out her mouth as it exploded in Neji"s face. Before he could defend himself he felt Hinata striking all of his Chakra points, Neji noticed a different kind of technique added to her gentle fist, it was like there were runes drawn in with her Chakra that sealed away his tenketsu, he fell to the ground as Hinata said, "If we rely on only our Gentle fist style we will fall behind the other clans, Neji you need to practice your transformation release techniques and add them into your style. Just so you know, I had plenty more techniques at my disposal." Neji laughed as he received a scolding from Hinata while she undid her Chakra Point Seals. Neji got up almost completely undamaged, he bowed to Hinata again as he said, "I wish you luck in the finals."
Hinata came back up to a cheering team 7, Naruto hugged her and lifted her into the air, while she was busy blushing Lee looked over to her in disbelief, his rival had lost to his younger female cousin. He didn"t know how to react when Neji came back and Kibo spoke some kind words to comfort him, "There is always someone stronger, even if you become the strongest person on the planet, even if such a person doesn"t currently exist there"s going to be someone who surpa.s.ses you some day."
Kibo"s words gave more help to Lee than it did Neji, but it still comforted him none the less. Kibo looked over to see the new name appear on the large screen display.
"Gaara versus Rock Lee!" The two came down to meet, before the fight got underway Kankuro paid a visit to team Guy, who was standing next to team 7. "Hey I just wanted to let you know your pupil should forfeit this match, he"s gonna get himself killed." Guy looked to Kankuro and said, "I"m not so sure about that, after all he is my pupil."
Kankuro shrugged his shoulders and shook his head as he sighed, "Well I tried to warn ya. No matter what he does it will be useless against Gaara." That"s when Naruto looked over and said, "No, he"s strong. I don"t think the match up will be as one sided as you think." Kankuro lifted an eyebrow, and said "But you still think he"ll lose." Naruto gripped the railing causing it to slightly distort, "Yes, but that"s only if he relies on the Shukaku"s power." He thought to himself.
The match started off like last time, Gaara launched his cork out towards Lee making him catch it, "Please don"t be so hasty friend." Lee said as he threw it back, and with rapid speed he appeared next to Gaara who had his hand stretched out to receive the cork, Lee shouted "Leaf Hurricane!" A puff of sand moved to block making a loud thud echo throughout the room, Gaara surprised by his strength began chasing after him with his sand, Lee moved back rapidly avoiding the sentient sand"s movements, and managed to pull far away by jumping onto the large hand sign statue"s finger tip.
Meanwhile up in the stands Kankuro just got done explaining on how his sand moves and protects him on its own, without Gaara even having to control it, and that"s why he"s never been injured on a mission before. Sakura suggested he uses other Jutsus when Guy remembered that, thanks to Kibo who helped heal Lee"s clogged meridians he could use them now.
Guy leaned over the rail and shouted, "Lee use Gen-Jutsu." Lee looked to Guy and said, "Right!" He placed his hands up into a sign and Gaara used the sand to cover his body when he turned to Guy and said "But I don"t know any!" Kakashi slapped his face; Guy blushed a little before saying, "Well then, for this match I permit you to use it."
. . .
Lee looked to Guy and said, "But you said never to use it unless I"m protecting something precious to me." Guy smiled as he held out his thumb and said, "I"m allowing you to use it, to protect your Ninja way. Now win this thing my disciple."
Lee looked happy as he let out a few laughs while removing his leg warmers, underneath was a set of large ankle weights that were inside some fabric lined up in bars. Lee un-wrapped the weights from his legs, and hung them in his hands; although some people were surprised Kankuro and Temari mocked Lee by saying "As if losing a couple of pounds will do anything." No sooner then they said this Lee dropped the weights into the ground lifting up a ma.s.sive storm of dust.
Kakashi"s face was particularly funny as he thought, "Isn"t that a bit too much." Lee disappeared, and reappeared behind Gaara, even Kibo whistled on how fast he moved, Lee"s fist shot through Gaara"s sand barrier and sent him flying away with a fierce punch, thanks to every muscle of his being altered through the use of the S rank technique; Lee"s body was far stronger than the previous version of himself. Gaara used the sand as a break and fell into it like it was a cloud, his face showed chips of hardened sand breaking off. Gaara had a s.a.d.i.s.tic smile on his face as the sand returned to make a new layer over his skin.
"He broke Gaara"s sand sh.e.l.l!" Temari cried out, when Kankuro informed that Gaara"s gonna play with Lee, and then kill him, Naruto felt nervous and walked over to Guy, "Guy sensei, I think you should tell lee to forfeit." Naruto whispered getting his attention before he continued, "That guy is the host for the 1 tail; I"m not worried whether he"ll win or not, I worried he"ll lose control. I heard that they didn"t use a very good seal on Shukaku"s host, he might lose control and bring down the whole stadium." Kakashi overheard and the two Jonin"s eye"s bulged as they looked to Naruto and then to Gaara.
"Naruto how do you know this?" Kakashi asked Naruto sighed and said, "Because I know about the nine tailed fox, and we even came to be friends. Right now he"s telling me that Shukaku is getting restless." Kakashi frowned and looked to Guy, when he said "We"d love to Naruto, but even if it"s a tailed beast host, we can"t stop the match."
Just as Naruto was about to complain Guy finished what Kakashi started saying "This is a match between Shin.o.bi villages, would you want us to deny you the right to partic.i.p.ate because you"re the nine tailed host?" Naruto looked down and that"s when Guy smiled, "Thank you for showing concern for my disciple, and don"t worry. The moment things look bad me and Kakashi will act." Naruto felt a little better, when the sound of Lee suddenly using the hidden lotus to send Gaara into the ground echoed throughout the chamber. The ground shattered the floor leaving only a crater and a broken sand sh.e.l.l of Gaara lying in it.
Gaara appeared from out of a pile of sand and launched a sneak attack on Lee"s back, Lee jumped away, but got hit into a wall, the group of spectators looked on as he stood forth, seeing his condition Kakashi looked over to Guy and shouted, "You didn"t teach him that did you?" Guy looked smug as he said, "Lee is a genius; he didn"t have the ability to use Nin-Jutsu, and Gen-Jutsu so all he could focus on was his Tai-Jutsu."
"So that kid is actually able to perform the reverse lotus? How many gates can he open?" Kakashi asked.
"5, Lee can open 5 gates at the moment." Guy responded, making Kakashi gasp and activate his Sharingan to observe the battle. Kibo also activated his Do-Jutsu; he had questions to how different this version of the gates of opining compared to his, and what he saw surprised not only him but Seiryu and Suzaku as well.
"Those aren"t the eight hidden Gates but the 8 Chakra openings!" Seiryu replied Kibo was puzzled as Seiryu continued to explain. "There are 8 Chakra Gates throughout the body, the gate of Spirit, and Perception, are located in the brain, the gate of Expression is in the throat on the base of the spine, the gate of Will is next to the heart, the gate of Power is near the solar plexus, the gate of Strength is in the arms, the gate of Drive is just below the navel, and the Root gate are located in the legs and feet."
Seiryu continued on as the battle picked up pace, "There positions are similar to the 8 gates, but only when the body has been tempered by the 8 gates can the 8 Chakra"s be used." It turns out that the whole time; they never opened a single real gate. Kibo couldn"t help but think that Lee was amazing when Suzaku chimed in "What he"s doing can"t be called opening a Chakra gate, it"s more like he"s holding them open with his Chakra. If one doesn"t master the 8 hidden gates first then the Chakra Gates will never open fully and they will never be able to use it properly."
Kibo was starting to get excited, if he opened all his gates and then his Chakra points, he was beginning to think that his physique may reach the level of a true G.o.d.
Seiryu confirmed his suspicions as he said, "If one opens up all 8 gates and 8 Chakra"s their physical strength would be unmatched under the realm of G.o.d, but his Chakra and soul power would be lacking in comparison." Kibo didn"t want to reach G.o.dhood through his physique alone, but he still couldn"t help but drool at the thought.
Suzaku laughed as she said "Opening them fully isn"t an easy task, only a handful of people have ever managed to pull that off, even so their lower souls and Chakra levels end up being their demise for when they take on the G.o.dly tribulations." Kibo laughed at himself for thinking too far in the future when the sound of Lee opening the second Chakra Gate could be heard.
According to Seiryu he opened his Spirit Gate first which increased the level of Chakra in his body allowing him to recover his stamina the second gate he opened was the root gate and the third and fourth gates he released were the Gates of Strength and Power. Kibo saw Lee"s dramatic increase in power, as Lee rushed towards Gaara caring the broken debris of the floor behind him, the battle intensified Gaara was being knocked around the grounds like a ping pong ball, Lee was moving so fast that the sand couldn"t keep up; Gaara tried to defend when Lee hit him high into the air and appeared on top of him.
Lee unleashed his fifth gate, the gate of Expression. He roared as he slammed his fist into Gaara"s body, as he was sent flying towards the ground, Lee had managed to grab onto his sash and pulled him back up by, all the power gathered in his fist and foot, and with a single twisting motion he hit Gaara in the stomach with both while shouting, "Reverse Lotus." Gaara shot into the ground, just before he hit, his gourd turned into sand and softened the impact.
As Lee came down he looked exhausted, Kibo was a little disappointed that his muscle transformation technique didn"t do anything to extend the duration or the taxation of the Chakra Gate openings. However it appeared that not only did it made him stronger, but also made the strain greater as well.