Rock Lee vs. Gaara

Rock Lee stood in the center of the arena.

Gaara stood opposite him. Sand flowed from the gourd on his back, spreading across the ground in a layer. It was alive, writhing, breathing, waiting.

"Konoha's Verdant Beast—Rock Lee—vs. Gaara of the Sand Waterfall."

Before Hayate Gekko's voice had even faded, Rock Lee charged.

The sound of his feet scraping against the stone slabs was like blades grinding across sheet metal. His entire body became a green blur as he circled behind Gaara and kicked toward the back of his head.

The sand blocked it.

Gaara had not controlled it. The sand had moved on its own. Automatic defense. Sand wrapped around Rock Lee's ankle. He twisted his waist and yanked free; before his right leg had even landed, his left swept toward Gaara's knee.

It was blocked by sand again.

Ringo watched from the stands, his system scan pushed to its maximum. He was not watching Rock Lee. He was watching the sand. Its movement was not random. Every grain was arranged in an orderly pattern within Gaara's chakra field, like an invisible spherical shield sealing off every angle of attack.

Analysis—Sand's Absolute Defense—sand reaction time: approximately 0.03 seconds. Beyond the limits of human neural reflexes. It cannot be broken through with speed alone.

Might Guy shouted from across the arena, "Lee—enough—take them off!"

Rock Lee stepped back.

He bent over.

He rolled up his pant legs. The weights strapped to his legs were lead blocks, two of them, each engraved with the words "Guts." He undid the buckles.

The lead blocks fell to the ground.

They smashed two craters into it.

The stone slabs cracked. Fragments flew three meters away. The entire arena fell silent.

...Even Gaara's sand stopped for an instant.

Rock Lee vanished.

He was too fast—even Ringo's system could not keep up. He only saw a flash of green jump from one point to another. Gaara's body bent over as Rock Lee's knee drove into his stomach, piercing up from directly beneath the defensive perimeter before the sand could react.

The first blow.

The sand armor on Gaara's face cracked. Fragments fell away, revealing pale skin beneath. Something more terrifying—his true face. Gaunt, with sunken eye sockets, as if he had not slept in a very long time.

"You—" Gaara's eyes widened. "You—hit me."

Rock Lee did not answer. He was in the air, his left foot already whipping toward Gaara's temple.

The sand surged forward again. But this time, it was slower. Rock Lee's speed had surpassed the sand's reaction threshold. Leaf Hurricane! Gaara was sent flying, crashing into the wall as his sand armor peeled away in large chunks.

Everyone in the stands rose to their feet.

Ringo did not. It was not because he was not excited. His system was calculating something else.

Shukaku fragment—orange—on the surface of Gaara's chakra layer. Free density rising. The weaker the sand defense becomes, the stronger Shukaku's will grows. Gaara is not becoming weaker. Shukaku is taking over.

Gaara slid down from the wall.

The sand was no longer merely defending. It began attacking. Not in waves. It lunged at Rock Lee from eight directions at once. Rock Lee dodged seven of them, but the eighth wrapped around his left foot.

Crack.

The sand wrapped around his ankle and twisted. Rock Lee's face went pale. But he did not stop. He kicked off the sand in midair with his right foot and forcibly tore his left foot free, stripping away a layer of skin from his leg.

"Third Gate—Gate of Life—open!"

Rock Lee's skin turned red. Green chakra burst from his body like steam. His hair rose upward, and the veins in his eyes bulged.

"Fourth Gate—Gate of Pain—open!"

A sonic boom.

Rock Lee's body moved faster than sound. Ringo's system could only capture afterimages. Gaara was struck repeatedly in midair, the sand unable to keep up. His sand armor shattered completely, and his body flew wildly from side to side like a punching bag being beaten again and again.

"Fifth Gate—Gate of Limit—open!"

Rock Lee's body turned red. Blood capillaries were rupturing, but his speed had already exceeded the limit of what the sand could perceive. He moved behind Gaara, drawing back his right fist.

"Reverse Lotus!"

His fist slammed into Gaara's back.

It was like a hammer striking stone. Gaara was driven straight into the ground, cracking open a crater ten meters wide. Dust billowed up, obscuring everyone's view.

No one in the arena spoke.

The dust slowly dispersed.

Gaara lay at the bottom of the crater. His sand armor was completely gone. His face—that pale face—was turned toward the ceiling. His eyes were open, but his pupils were contracting.

The sand writhed on the ground. It was struggling—Shukaku's will was forcing its way out, but Gaara's body was shrinking inward. The two forces tore at each other inside him, leaving him like a doll ripped apart down the middle.

He moved.

He turned over onto his stomach. Sand wrapped around his body and slowly lifted him up, like a puppet being pulled by strings. His expression was one of terror.

Ringo's system displayed a line of text.

Detected—Gaara—emotional fluctuation: fear. Afraid of himself. Afraid of killing again.

Ringo clenched his fingers.

Gaara was not afraid of Rock Lee. He was afraid of himself. He feared becoming a monster again, feared killing someone who should not be killed. The sand was protecting him, but it was also making decisions for him. He was not the one killing people—Shukaku was. But he could not tell the difference. Because ever since he was little, he had been told: you are the monster.

Rock Lee landed on the ground.

His legs trembled. The backlash from the Fifth Gate had already begun. His muscles were tearing, his bones cracking; his body was breaking down. Yet he did not fall. He assumed his stance and stared at Gaara.

"You—have not—lost. And I—have not—won. We continue—to fight—to the end. This—is—my ninja way."

Gaara looked at him.

Sand flowed between them. It was waiting. Shukaku was waiting, and Gaara was waiting as well. Waiting to see whether Rock Lee would fall first, or whether he himself would collapse first.

Rock Lee fell first.

His leg bones could not withstand the pressure of the Fifth Gate. His whole body pitched forward, face-first, kicking up a small cloud of dust. He did not move. Might Guy leaped down and caught him, tears flying sideways across his face.

Hayate Gekko raised his hand.

"The winner—Gaara."

Gaara did not celebrate. He turned away, sand wrapping around him like a cocoon and dragging him back toward the passageway. As he passed directly beneath Ringo, he paused.

He was not looking at Ringo. He was looking in the direction of Ringo's card slot.

"There is—a strange smell—on you. Not blood. Creation. You are dangerous. I will remember you."

Ringo did not answer.

It was not fear. He had seen something else in Gaara's eyes. As the sand flowed back into the gourd, a grain caught in Gaara's eyelashes. He did not wipe it away. He had not noticed, because all his attention was focused on suppressing himself, keeping Shukaku's will from bursting out.

Ringo opened the system panel. Facing Gaara's retreating back, he opened it, then closed it.

What you carry is not your fault.

He said it in his heart.

I did not choose my system either. But we can choose—how to use it.

The electronic screen flashed again.

The next match—Hyuga Hinata vs. Hyuga Neji.

Ringo clenched his fist.

It was not because he feared Neji. It was because he knew Hinata would step onto the field. She was going to face the debt between her entire clan's main house and branch house, and she had to repay it alone.

Across the stands, Hinata stood up. Her fingers were trembling, but she stood anyway.

Ringo watched her walk down into the arena.

He did not cheer for her. He did not clench his fist. He said nothing.

Because he knew that in this fight, Hinata did not need his protection. What she needed was for him to believe that she could stand up on her own.

And he did.