I Acknowledge Your Youth

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

Choji Akimichi shouted excitedly:

"Great! It's not me!"

The people around him shot him disdainful looks, but said nothing.

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

As Rock Lee prepared to head down,

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

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

He hurriedly pulled out a small 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 sentence from Might Guy into his notebook as well.

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

He shouted passionately, "All right! Go, Lee!"

"Yes, Guy-sensei!"

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

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

At last, both sides entered the arena and prepared to fight.

Hinata looked at Kanami and asked, "Can he beat Gaara?"

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

In the original course of events, Gaara narrowly defeated Rock Lee. After that, Rock Lee's body suffered severe damage—the source of the saying, "powered up for six minutes, 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."

"Yo!"

Rock Lee excitedly rushed toward Gaara and launched 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 a single step in response to Rock Lee's attacks.

With only his sand, Gaara had already placed himself in an unbeatable position.

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

Might Guy stomped the ground, instantly shattering it into a spiderweb of cracks.

"Lee! Use that!"

Rock Lee leaped onto one of the statue's fingers and said,

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

Might Guy gave him his trademark gleaming smile. "It's fine! I approve!"

"All right!"

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,

"Heh. He only took off a few weights. How could he possibly keep up with Gaara's sand?"

Hearing everyone's comments, Kanami shook his head slightly.

They would not be thinking that for much longer.

Bang!

The instant Rock Lee's weights struck the ground, they kicked up a cloud of dust four or five meters high and smashed deep craters into the floor.

Everyone who had just spoken was stunned.

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

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

"Yeah!!"

Two flames seemed to ignite in Rock Lee's eyes as he charged toward Gaara.

Thud! Bam!

In an incredibly short span of time, 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.

Bang!

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

Crack!

Gaara's shattered face peeled away piece by piece, revealing a brand-new 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 around Gaara at extreme speed.

Gaara still stood with his arms crossed, watching coldly, seemingly not the least bit interested in Rock Lee.

As Rock Lee raced around him, the sand was clearly unable to keep up with his speed.

Good chance!

He suddenly attacked, kicking Gaara beneath the chin.

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

"Front Lotus!"

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

Dust instantly shot several meters into the air.

"Did that watermelon-head win?!"

When the dust cleared, Gaara's shattered body turned out to be only a Sand Clone, while his real body had appeared behind Rock Lee.

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

"I'll kill you!"

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

After using the Lotus, Rock Lee's body was under immense strain. Even though he saw Gaara's attack, he no longer had the speed to evade it.

Bang!

Rock Lee was violently slammed against the wall by the sea-like assault of sand.

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

For a time, Rock Lee was battered black and blue by Gaara's sand.

In the arena, pink-haired Sakura watched in alarm. Unable to bear it any longer, she asked, "Why isn't Rock Lee surrendering? If this keeps going, he'll die!"

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

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

"Guy-sensei, thank you!"

Rock Lee rose to his feet, and his aura changed completely.

"Third Gate, Gate of Life, open!"

As his chakra broke through the barrier of the Gate of Life, an enormous amount of blue chakra spilled out from his body and swirled around him.

Sakura was shocked. "Th-This is... what kind of ninjutsu is that?!"

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

"That isn't ninjutsu. It's taijutsu—the Eight Gates."

"The Eight Gates? What is that?"

Kakashi explained gravely, "Within the chakra circulatory system are eight acupoints: 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 acupoints have barriers that normally restrict the flow of chakra. The Lotus breaks through those limits, releasing more than ten times one's strength."

"But the Eight Gates place an enormous burden on the body. While opening all Eight Gates grants power, it also costs 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?

"Still not enough!"

Rock Lee roared, and the chakra within his body charged against the fourth gate once more—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 all over his body. Every patch of exposed skin turned from fair to crimson, and his eyes became completely white.

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

Whoosh!

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

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

Gaara's face was filled with unease. "So fast!"

Rock Lee grabbed the white strap on Gaara's body and yanked with all his strength, pulling the rapidly falling Gaara back up once more.

"This match will end with this move!"

Veins bulged across Rock Lee's entire body as he poured all his strength into one fist and smashed it viciously into Gaara's vital point.

"Reverse Lotus!"