Sea Tiger Blast Punch!

Before the third match began, Naruto informed Kakashi of his deductions and then left the stage.

Facing him was Rock Lee, his entire face etched with seriousness, his eyes seemingly carved from sheer determination.

Rock Lee suddenly cupped his hands around his mouth and shouted towards the spectator stands, towards Haruno Sakura sitting with Yamanaka Ino, "Sakura! If I win, will you go out with me?!"

After speaking, he turned his head back, his gaze even more resolute.

But it's not enough.

He muttered to himself, "If I can't defeat Naruto, Sakura will never agree to a date with me in this lifetime."

"And Neji, whom I've always wanted to defeat, he's definitely watching TV at the hospital and will be disappointed in me too."

"I also won't be able to prove what Guy-sensei said, that I am a genius of hard work."

"In short, if I lose today, I'm finished, everything is finished! I must win!"

Flames ignited in Rock Lee's eyes. Everything else vanished; only Naruto, his opponent, the opponent he had to defeat, remained in his sight.

He untied the two "Grit" weights from his legs, letting them drop to the ground. They landed with a thud, creating craters and kicking up two handfuls of dust.

This elicited gasps and cheers from the audience.

Might Guy, tears streaming down his face, shouted, "Little Lee! Unleash your youth to the fullest!"

Kakashi's eyes darted left and right, counting the number of Anbu in the arena.

"Both sides ready!" Gekko Hayate raised his hand and then dropped it. "Begin!"

Whoosh!

Rock Lee moved, but not towards Naruto. Instead, he sprinted in the opposite direction in an S-shape.

He knew his Normal State strength was no match for Naruto. Before his condition was fully maximized, any direct clash could lead to instant defeat.

"Eight Inner Gates Formation! First Gate! Gate of Opening! Open!"

The brain's restrictions were lifted, and his body's strength erupted to one hundred percent.

"Second Gate! Gate of Healing..."

Bang!

A sky-blue Rasengan was thrown by Naruto like a baseball, hitting the rapidly moving Rock Lee with precision and slamming him into the wall, cracking it like a spiderweb.

This single attack silenced the audience and the ninja leaders who had been eagerly anticipating a grand battle after Rock Lee ignited their passion.

"Is that a Rasengan?"

"The Fourth Hokage's signature move?"

They looked at Naruto's blonde hair and appearance, and their thoughts simultaneously turned to the man who had dominated the battlefield during the Third Great Ninja War—Minato Namikaze.

The moment Naruto unleashed the Rasengan, he charged forward without pause, as if he had absolute confidence in hitting his target.

Rock Lee's body felt numb, but his round eyes remained determined. He clenched his fist, wrapped in bandages, and roared with all his might, "Second and Third Gates! Gate of Healing, Gate of Life! Open!"

His skin quickly flushed red, and his internal energy was heavily compressed, converting into physical strength. He pushed off the wall with his legs, leaping into the air and sprinting around the circular arena.

As soon as he moved, Naruto's fist slammed into the wall where he had been. The cracks in the stone wall widened, and debris fell.

A fierce and powerful aura impacted the eyes of everyone present.

Rock Lee ran, kept running, desperately running under the gaze of thousands.

"Three Gates aren't enough! Fourth Gate! Gate of Pain!"

He couldn't shout the word "Open." He needed to stop and gather his power, but if he stopped, Naruto would catch him. He couldn't stop.

"I want to win! I can't lose! Four—"

In his peripheral vision, he saw the Rasengan again, another Rasengan, predicting his steps.

"Leg! Stop!"

He forcefully contracted his quadriceps, which were in a stretched state, and froze in place. The Rasengan flew past his eyes.

But after evading the frontal attack, Naruto followed closely, his hardened fist, carrying tangible power, smashing into Rock Lee's crossed arms.

The sound of bones cracking echoed clearly, but Rock Lee used the impact force on his arms, combined with a powerful stomp of his legs, to retreat into the air, distancing himself from Naruto once more.

"Little Lee! Surrender!" his teammate Tenten, a girl in a white coat with two buns, shouted.

Might Guy, with his arms crossed, pursed his lips.

The intense pain stimulated Rock Lee's nerves. His blood-red skin twitched, and steam and veins bulged from his forehead.

"Fourth Gate! Gate of Pain! Open!!"

His arms, which had been limp and swaying, suddenly became muscular and rigid, like heated iron rods.

As he landed, his eyes could no longer see his pupils; the whites of his eyes showed through the blood vessels, and his watermelon-shaped hair flew upwards.

"Uzumaki Naruto! Here I come! Hidden Lotus!!"

Naruto's chakra surged rapidly within him, a fierce wind whipping around him. He charged head-on, "Good!"

BOOM!

Blue on the left, red on the right, wind and fire clashed.

Bandages on both arms flew out as they wrapped around. Rock Lee leaped through the air, kicking consecutively in a 360-degree spin, his kicks a blur too fast for normal eyes as he swept and thrust towards Naruto.

Fists and legs collided horizontally and vertically, BANG BANG! echoing as waves of energy rolled and chunks of earth exploded.

Although Naruto's physical strength had been diligently trained, it was still far from Rock Lee's thousand-times-tempered physique. The reason he could maintain an overwhelming advantage was mainly due to chakra reinforcement.

He couldn't see Rock Lee's movements, or rather, his taijutsu was a constant barrage of attacks targeting the opponent's blind spots.

The pressure was on him.

Initially, he had only wanted to end the match quickly to observe the situation, but Rock Lee's fighting spirit, clearly a desperate, life-or-death move, had earned his complete respect.

The only response he could give was to give it his all, fight with all his might to win! Or to fight with all his might and lose!

"500,000 volts of power! Hellish Revolving Heaven!"

In an instant, sword qi erupted from every pore of Naruto's body.

Naruto's fist spun with him, transforming into a hurricane of sword qi. He himself became like a Rasengan, shaking off Rock Lee's assault and cutting him all over, leaving him covered in bloody gashes.

And by a ghostly, instinctive impulse, he grabbed Rock Lee's ankle, swung him wildly, and smashed him fiercely into the earth.

The earth, centered on the point of impact, sank another layer. It crumbled inch by inch, exploding into a crater dozens of meters in diameter, with dust filling the sky.

"Little Lee!" Might Guy leaped down from the spectator stands atop the high wall.

He roared at Gekko Hayate, "Announce the win—"

At that moment, a heart-wrenching roar erupted from the dirt once more.

"Eight Inner Gates Formation, Fifth Gate: Gate of Limit, OPEN!!"

A fiery red aura scattered the dust, and a green silhouette, indistinguishable in skin or blood color, surged into the air. His watermelon-shaped hair stood on end, his breath like a bull's.

He twisted his waist, swung his arm, gathered power, and locked onto Naruto.

"Uzumaki Naruto!!!"

"Rock Lee!" Naruto's eyes blazed like madness, his arms spread wide. "I already know your ambition! I understand your aspirations! Come! Fight! Take everything you want from me, take it all!!"

A sonic boom, a piercing sonic boom, exploded behind Rock Lee. The next moment, an afterimage descended from the heavens.

"Reverse Lotus! Final Punch!"

Naruto stared intently, his perception at this moment incredibly focused, completely lost in the moment.

So strong, such a strong punch. It's like attacking with the hardest body and the highest damage. How can I block it? Where will I find the strength to block it?

But a surge of spirit burned within his chest, surging, rushing through his limbs, making his skin tingle, urging him to charge! To go forward!

A supremely powerful killing move, his sworn brother Bai Shou Nan's inherited technique, appeared in his consciousness, almost instinctively driving his body.

It was unclear whether man drove the technique or the technique controlled the man. With his mouth agape and eyes wide with fury, Naruto roared with all his might.

"Chakra rotating at ten thousand horsepower!"

"Sea Tiger—Explosive Fist!!!"

BOOM CRASH!

A tragic flare of energy, carrying waves of dust, swept through the arena, the wind whipping towards the heavens.

"Who won?"

Someone asked, but no one answered.

Everyone waited for the smoke and dust to clear.

The clear blue sky, for some unknown reason, suddenly began to rain, washing away the dust.

In the scarred crater, two figures stood.

Naruto, his trench coat tattered and almost leaving him bare-chested, steadied Rock Lee, who had completely lost consciousness and was a bloody mess. He channeled chakra, healing his cells.

Gekko Hayate blew his whistle and raised his hand.

"Winner! Uzumaki Naruto!"

After a brief silence, the roar echoed through the stadium of tens of thousands, deafening.