I Acknowledge Your Youth

Seeing that the name on the electronic screen was not Choji Akimichi's.

Choji Akimichi shouted excitedly:

"Great! It's not me!"

The people around him shot him disdainful looks, but no one said anything.

None of them wanted to face Gaara. They had all witnessed, to some extent, Gaara's strength and brutality in the Forest of Death.

As Rock Lee prepared to head down.

Might Guy leaned close to his ear and said, "Maybe no one noticed... but that gourd on his back is highly suspicious. Be careful!"

A look of sudden realization appeared on Rock Lee's face. "Oh! As expected of Teacher Guy!"

He hurriedly pulled out his little notebook and began taking notes.

"Stop writing. There won't be time to take notes in battle, idiot."

"Oh! I see!"

Rock Lee copied that line from Might Guy into his little notebook as well.

It seemed as though two flames were blazing fiercely in Might Guy's eyes.

He shouted with high spirits, "Yosh! Go, Lee!"

"Yes, Teacher Guy!"

Rock Lee put away his little notebook, vaulted over the railing, and leaped down.

Gaara stood with his arms crossed over his chest and said coldly, "So slow."

The two sides finally entered the arena and prepared to fight.

Hinata looked at Feng An and asked, "Can he defeat Gaara?"

Feng An shook his head. "It'll be difficult. Rock Lee is very strong himself, but..."

According to how the story unfolded, Gaara would narrowly defeat Rock Lee. After this, Rock Lee's body would suffer severe damage—the origin of the saying that he was overpowered for six minutes but sidelined for six hundred episodes.

If nothing unexpected happened, Rock Lee would lose his left arm and left leg here.

Gekko Hayate said, "Now, the tenth preliminary match, cough, begins."

"Yosh!"

Rock Lee excitedly rushed toward Gaara and unleashed an extremely fierce assault.

Yet Gaara still stood there coldly, completely motionless.

The sand from his gourd alone blocked Rock Lee's attacks.

After several exchanges, Gaara had not moved even a single step against Rock Lee's assault.

With nothing but sand, Gaara had already made himself invincible.

Gaara said coldly, "Is this all? Try making me a little more excited."

Might Guy stomped one foot onto the ground, instantly shattering it into a spiderweb pattern.

"Lee! Use that!"

Rock Lee jumped onto the finger of the statue and said:

"But Teacher Guy, didn't you say I could only use it when protecting more important people?"

Might Guy gave him his signature shining smile. "It's fine! I approve!"

"Yosh!"

Rock Lee sat on the statue's finger and untied the weights bound to his legs.

Everyone in the stands shook their heads at the sight.

"Weights?"

"Boring."

"What kind of useless training is that..."

Temari, standing to the side, said with a proud expression:

"Hah, he only took off some weights. How could he possibly keep up with Gaara's sand?"

Hearing everyone's discussion, Feng An shook his head slightly.

They would not be thinking that way much longer.

The instant Rock Lee dropped his weights onto the ground, they kicked up clouds of dust over ten meters high, and the floor was smashed into deep craters.

Everyone who had just spoken was stunned.

"Th-Those can still be called weights...?"

Might Guy shouted excitedly, "Youth must burn brightly! Charge, Lee!"

"Oh!!"

Two flames burned in Rock Lee's eyes as he shot toward Gaara.

Thud! Bam!

In an incredibly short instant, Rock Lee threw a punch and a kick.

Gaara's sand gradually began to fall behind.

For the first time, panic appeared on Gaara's face.

Before the sand could react, Rock Lee kicked Gaara in the face.

Crack!

Gaara's shattered face peeled away piece by piece, revealing a fresh face beneath it.

Gaara still said coldly, "Is that all?"

"In that case."

Rock Lee tore off the bandages around his hands and began sprinting wildly around Gaara at tremendous speed.

Gaara still stood with his arms crossed, watching coldly. He seemed to have no interest in Rock Lee at all.

As Rock Lee raced around him, the sand clearly could not keep up with his speed.

A good opportunity!

He suddenly attacked, kicking Gaara beneath the chin.

Then he used a series of anti-gravity kicks to send Gaara flying high into the air.

"Front Lotus!"

The bandages around his hands tightly bound Gaara, and the two spun at extreme speed as they crashed toward the ground!

Dust instantly surged dozens of feet into the air.

"Did that watermelon-headed kid win?!"

Once the dust cleared, they saw that the shattered Gaara had only been a Sand Clone. His real body had appeared behind Rock Lee.

The calmness on his face was replaced by a crazed expression.

"Desert Coffin!"

In an instant, sand surged forth like raging ocean waves.

Having used the Lotus, Rock Lee's body was under tremendous strain. Even though he saw Gaara's attack, he no longer had the speed to dodge it.

Rock Lee was violently slammed against the wall by the attack, which was like a sea of sand.

Gaara's expression was crazed. "Is this all?"

For a time, Rock Lee was battered all over by Gaara's sand, his body covered in wounds.

Sakura, the pink-haired girl in the stands, watched in alarm and asked anxiously, "Why isn't Rock Lee surrendering? If this continues, he'll die!"

Might Guy's lips curved high as he watched Rock Lee appreciatively.

"He won't surrender. Watch closely. He will dance again!"

"Teacher Guy, thank you!"

Rock Lee stood up, and his aura changed instantly.

"Third Gate, Gate of Life, open!"

As Chakra broke through the barrier of the Gate of Life, a vast amount of blue Chakra burst from his body and swirled around him.

Sakura cried out in shock, "Th-This is... what kind of Ninjutsu?!"

Kakashi lifted his forehead protector, revealing the Three Tomoe Sharingan in his left eye.

"This isn't Ninjutsu. It's Taijutsu—the Eight Inner Gates."

"The Eight Inner Gates? What's that?"

Kakashi explained gravely, "Within the meridian system through which Chakra flows, there are eight points: the Gate of Opening, Gate of Healing, Gate of Life, Gate of Pain, Gate of Limit, Gate of View, Gate of Wonder, and Gate of Death."

"These eight points have barriers that normally restrict the flow of Chakra. The Lotus breaks through those limits and releases more than ten times the power."

"But the Eight Inner Gates place an enormous burden on the body. While gaining power by opening the eight gates, one also loses one's life."

After saying that, Kakashi gave Might Guy a deep look.

You actually taught him such a dangerous technique, Guy. What were you thinking?

"It's still not enough!"

Rock Lee roared as the Chakra in his body once again struck at the fourth gate, the Gate of Pain.

"Fourth Gate, Gate of Pain, open!"

Without pausing for even a moment, he pressed onward in one burst.

"Fifth Gate, Gate of Limit, open!"

Veins bulged across his body. All of his exposed skin changed from fair to crimson, and his eyes turned white.

With Rock Lee at the center, an even more astonishing green Chakra aura erupted outward.

Rock Lee moved at a high speed comparable to the Body Flicker Technique, far exceeding the automatic defense speed of Gaara's sand.

He appeared before Gaara in an instant and shattered Gaara's Sand Armor with one kick.

Unease filled Gaara's face. "So fast!"

Rock Lee grabbed the white sash around Gaara's body and pulled with all his might, yanking the rapidly falling Gaara back up once more.

"This match will end with this move!"

Veins bulged all over Rock Lee's body as he poured all his strength into a vicious punch aimed at Gaara's vital point.

"Reverse Lotus!"