Before the third match began, Naruto told Kakashi his theory, then went down to the arena.
His opponent was Rock Lee, whose whole face was set in a serious expression, his eyes seeming as though they had been carved from sheer earnestness.
Rock Lee suddenly cupped his hands around his mouth and shouted toward the stands, where Haruno Sakura sat beside Yamanaka Ino. "Sakura! If I win, will you go out with me?"
After saying that, he turned back, his gaze even more resolute.
But it wasn't enough.
He muttered to himself again. "If I can't beat Naruto, Sakura will never agree to go on a date with me."
"And Neji, the person I've always wanted to defeat, is probably watching on TV at the hospital. He'll be disappointed in me too."
"I won't be able to prove what Teacher Guy said, that I'm a genius of hard work."
"In short, if I lose today, it's all over for me! Everything! I have to win!"
A flame ignited in Rock Lee's eyes. Everything else vanished; all he could see was Naruto, his opponent—the one he had to defeat.
He untied the two bundles of "guts" weights from his legs and let them fall. They slammed into the ground, leaving dents and kicking up two clouds of dust.
The crowd erupted in astonished cheers.
Might Guy shouted through his tears, "Lee! Let your youth run wild!"
Kakashi's eyes darted back and forth as he counted the Anbu in the arena.
"Both sides ready!" Gekko Hayate raised a hand, then brought it down. "Begin!"
Whoosh!
Rock Lee moved, but not toward Naruto. He ran in the opposite direction, weaving in an S-shaped path.
He knew his normal strength was no match for Naruto. Until he was fully powered up, even a single clash could get him taken out in an instant.
"Eight Inner Gates Formation! First Gate! Gate of Opening! Open!"
The restrictions on his brain lifted, and his body's strength erupted at full power.
"Second Gate! Gate of Healing..."
Bang!
Naruto hurled a sky-blue Rasengan like a baseball. It struck the fast-moving Rock Lee dead-on, blasting him into the wall and leaving a web of cracks.
The blow silenced the audience and the leaders of the shinobi villages, who had been fired up by Rock Lee and ready to watch a fierce battle.
"Was that a Rasengan?"
"The Fourth Hokage's signature technique?"
Looking at Naruto's blond hair and face, they all thought of the man who had dominated the battlefield during the Third Shinobi World War—Minato Namikaze.
The instant Naruto threw the Rasengan, he charged forward without pausing, as if absolutely certain it would hit.
Rock Lee's entire body had gone numb, but his round eyes remained determined. He clenched his bandage-wrapped fist and roared at the top of his lungs, "Second and third gates! Gate of Healing, Gate of Life! Open!"
His skin quickly flushed red as he squeezed a tremendous amount of energy from his body and converted it into stamina. He kicked off the wall with both legs and bounded sideways, racing around the circular arena.
The moment he got away, Naruto's fist slammed into the wall where he had been. The cracks in the stone widened, and fragments crumbled away.
The ferocious, overbearing force of the attack seared itself into everyone's eyes.
Rock Lee ran and ran, sprinting desperately beneath the gaze of ten thousand spectators.
"Three gates aren't enough! Fourth Gate! Gate of Pain!"
He couldn't shout "Open." He needed to stop and gather his strength, but if he stopped, Naruto would catch him. He couldn't stop.
"I have to win! I can't lose! Fo—"
Out of the corner of his eye, he saw a Rasengan. Another Rasengan, once again aimed ahead of his steps.
"My leg! Stop!"
He forced his stretched quadriceps to contract through sheer willpower, freezing in place as the Rasengan flew past his eyes.
But after dodging the first attack, Naruto was right behind it. His hard fist, packed with overwhelming force, slammed into Rock Lee's crossed arms.
The crack of breaking bones rang out clearly, but Rock Lee used the impact against his arms, combined it with an explosive push from his legs, and flew backward through the air, putting distance between himself and Naruto once more.
"Lee! Surrender!" his teammate Tenten, a girl in a White Coat with her hair tied into two buns, shouted.
Might Guy stood with his arms folded, lips pressed tightly together.
The intense pain jolted Rock Lee's nerves. His blood-red skin twitched, while steam and bulging veins rose from his forehead.
"Fourth Gate! Gate of Pain! Open!!"
His arms, which had been limp and swaying, suddenly bulged with muscle, taut as red-hot iron rods.
By the time he landed, his pupils had disappeared, leaving his eyes entirely white amid a web of blood vessels. His bowl-cut hair shot upward.
"Uzumaki Naruto! Here I come! Reverse—Lotus!!"
Chakra surged rapidly through Naruto's body, and fierce winds howled around him. He charged head-on. "Good!"
Boom!
Blue on the left, red on the right, wind and fire raging.
The bandages around Rock Lee's arms flew loose. He kicked off the air again and again, circling through three hundred and sixty degrees. His legs struck out one after another, spinning, sweeping, and thrusting toward Naruto at a speed beyond ordinary eyes.
Fists and legs clashed from every angle, each impact exploding with a bang. Waves of air rolled outward as the ground shattered in chunks.
Naruto had trained hard to strengthen his body, but it was still far behind Rock Lee's body, tempered through endless practice. The reason Naruto had been able to overwhelm him was mainly because he reinforced himself with Chakra.
He couldn't see Rock Lee's movements. Or rather, Rock Lee's Taijutsu consisted of relentless attacks aimed at his opponent's blind spots.
The pressure was on him now.
At first, Naruto had only wanted to finish the match quickly and get back up to observe how things unfolded. But Rock Lee's determination to fight was plain to see: every move was a deadly one, and it had earned Naruto's complete respect.
The only answer he could give was to fight with all his strength—to battle with everything he had and either win or lose!
"Five hundred thousand volts of power! Hellish Revolving Heaven!"
In an instant, Chakra blades burst from every pore in Naruto's body.
With Naruto's fist leading the way, he spun into a whirlwind of Chakra blades. His whole body became like a Rasengan, driving back Rock Lee's attacks and leaving him covered in bloody cuts.
Then, guided by some inexplicable instinct, Naruto grabbed Rock Lee by the ankle, swung him violently, and smashed him into the earth.
The ground caved in another layer around the point of impact, crumbling apart inch by inch. A crater dozens of meters across blasted open, and dust filled the sky.
"Lee!" Might Guy leaped down from the high-wall spectator seats.
He shouted at Gekko Hayate, "Declare the wi—"
Just then, a heart-rending roar erupted from the dirt.
"Eight Inner Gates Formation! Fifth Gate, Gate of Limit, open!!"
A fiery red shockwave scattered the dust. A green figure, its skin impossible to distinguish from its blood, shot into the air. His bowl-cut hair stood on end, and his breath came in powerful bursts.
He twisted his waist, swung his arm, gathered his strength, and locked onto Naruto.
"Uzumaki Naruto!!!"
"Rock Lee!" Naruto's eyes blazed with madness as he spread his arms wide. "I know your boundless ambition! I understand your aspirations! Come! Fight! Take everything you want from me—take it all!!"
A deafening sonic boom erupted behind Rock Lee. The next instant, a blur streaked from the sky to the earth.
"Reverse Lotus! Final Fist!"
Naruto stared straight at him, wholly absorbed in the moment, forgetting everything else.
So strong—a truly powerful punch. It was as if the hardest body were coming at him with the most devastating strike. How could he block it? Where would he find the strength?
But a fierce courage burned in his chest, surged through him, and raced into every limb. His skin and hair tingled, urging him to charge! To meet the blow!
An immensely powerful finishing move, a secret art passed down from his sworn elder brother, the White-Headed Man, flashed into his mind, guiding his body almost instinctively.
It was impossible to tell whether the man was driving the move or the move was controlling him. Naruto's mouth opened wide, his eyes bulging, and a roar burst from his entire being.
"Ten thousand horsepower of Chakra rotation!"
"Sea Tiger—Explosive Fist!!!"
Boom!
A fierce blaze of energy swept across the arena with a surge of dust, and winds spiraled into the sky.
"Who won?"
Someone asked, but no one answered.
Everyone waited for the dust to settle.
Though the sky had been clear, rain began to fall for some unknown reason, washing the dust away.
In the devastated crater, two figures stood side by side.
Naruto, his coat in tatters and nearly bare-chested, steadied Rock Lee, who had lost consciousness and was covered in blood. He channeled Chakra into him, healing his cells.
Gekko Hayate blew his whistle and raised his hand.
"Winner! Uzumaki Naruto!"
After a brief silence, the arena erupted with the roar of ten thousand people, deafening.
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