Rock Lee unleashed the Eight Gates Released Formation? A Wood Release shield let you hit it all you wanted

Hayate declared Neji the winner, but it was a bitter victory.

He lay on a stretcher, his hands still shaking.

The veins around his Byakugan had become completely engorged and blackened from his rampaging chakra.

They looked like two disgusting centipedes clinging to his eye sockets.

"This isn't fate... this doesn't make sense..."

He bit down on the strip of cloth in his mouth and muttered indistinctly.

The two young medical ninja carrying his stretcher slipped on the floor covered in white dust.

They almost dropped Neji straight onto the ground.

Neji sucked in a breath of pain. Cold sweat rolled down his forehead, past the corners of his eyes, and into his ears, making them itch.

"All right, quit whining."

Sen leaned against a cold pillar and lazily waved at Neji's departing stretcher.

"Keep that up, and your eyeballs really will burst."

During the next few matches, the torches in the hall crackled away.

Thick black smoke swirled beneath the ceiling, carrying the scorched smell of pine resin.

The fighting on the arena floor was lively enough, with a Rain Ninja using a Water Clone to trade blows with one of the Konoha Brats.

But everyone's eyes still drifted from time to time toward the dozing boy in the back row.

"Sen Senju..."

Baki stood with the Sand Ninja, grinding the grass stem in his mouth to bits between his teeth.

Temari gripped the wooden handle of her Three-Star Fan tightly. Her palms were so slick with sweat that she could barely hold it steady.

"Sensei, if Gaara faces him, do we really have to forfeit immediately?"

"Shut up."

Baki cut her off impatiently and wiped the sand from his face with a dry hand.

"That's a monster, not a ninja. Don't provoke him."

At last, the names on