Following the direction of Ando's finger, Moriyue indeed spotted two teams standing amid the wind and sand. Though they were some distance away, the boy in the crowd wearing a green bodysuit and with the word "youth" practically written across his face had to be Rock Lee.
The other side was harder to make out. The blowing sand obscured his vision, and Moriyue narrowed his eyes. His intuition told him that person was Shira.
"So those two finally met..." Moriyue had no intention of revealing his position, so he simply lay prone atop the dune and watched.
"Neji..." Hinata had been placed on the ground by Moriyue, and she too saw Neji's team in the distance. Tenten and Neji stood behind Rock Lee, while the muscular man opposite him met Rock Lee's gaze. That man was Shira.
"I'd heard the legends of the Eight Inner Gates long ago. You're a taijutsu expert too, right? Come fight me..."
Shira seemed somewhat different from before. The gentle smile he had always worn was gone, as though he had suffered some sort of blow.
Moriyue, whom he had only known for a short time, had killed the fellow villagers who bullied his companions. He should have avenged his comrades, yet he hesitated. According to what Sunagakure had taught him, he should have lived and died alongside his companions. But why, when those people died, did he feel a surge of... joy?
Lost in confusion, Shira encountered Rock Lee, who was traveling onward. He needed a battle to understand his own heart.
"Please guide me!"
Rock Lee was hot-blooded by nature. It was rare to encounter another taijutsu practitioner, so naturally his hands itched for a fight. Only battle could bring improvement, and his blood was already boiling.
The momentum of the two men