Naruto Fan Fiction ❯ The Road to Chunin ❯ Chapter 15 ( Chapter 15 )

Chapter 15

 

It was after midnight. Folks from out of town were heading back to their hotels. Businesses were closing for the night. Many had stayed open later to accommodate the crowds. Things were starting to settle down. In the Hyuga Clan compound, everyone had been in bed for a while. All except Hinata. Softly she crept out of her house and over to another small building with the Hyuga logo over the door. She entered silently. The room was full of books and scrolls put neatly into shelves. She walked over to a desk at the far end of the room and opened a drawer. She felt around until she found a false bottom and opened it. Inside was a small scroll. She stared at it for a moment, seeming to make up her mind whether or not to pick it up. Finally she picked it up, opened it, and quickly read the contents.

 

---

 

In another part of town, Gaara was wide awake as usual. He sat on the roof of the hotel where he was staying, watching other foreigners returning from bars in various states of sobriety and intoxication. He suddenly became aware that he was not alone. He looked behind him and saw Lee.

 

“Thank God it's only you,” he said with relief.

 

“You were expecting someone else?” asked Lee.

 

Gaara nodded. “I keep expecting those assassins to come back. I guess these guys are dedicated to ridding the world of at least one Jinchuriki; the one they see as most unstable and therefore most dangerous. ANBU had no luck turning them up.”

 

“If they have any brains they have left town already,” said Lee as he sat down next to Gaara.

 

“I doubt they have any,” replied Gaara. “These people are determined. These are fools seeking to die for what they see as a noble cause. If you kill one of us, our demon dies too.” Gaara paused for a moment and looked over at Lee. “Did you want something?”

 

Lee nodded. “It is not easy for me to say. I am frightened of you.”

 

“I get that reaction a lot,” said Gaara with a frown.

 

“Last time we fought things ended very badly for me,” said Lee. “I had not given it consideration when the exams started. But now this has been on my mind for hours. But for once, I decided not to talk to Gai Sensei about it. I always go to him with everything. I am closer to him than anyone. But this time I cannot. It is because of some advice he gave me after our fight, the wisdom of which I now question.”

 

Gaara was intrigued. “What did he say?”

 

“After my injury I was faced with a terrible decision. I could retire as a shinobi or face surgery that carried with it a 50/50 chance of either success or death. I nearly went crazy trying to decide what to do and he advised me to get the operation.”

 

“Do you regret it?” asked Gaara.

 

“It is not that I regret it,” said Lee. “In fact, I actually think my reflexes improved slightly after the operation. It is just the idea that Gai Sensei and I gave ourselves that somehow my life would not be worth living if I were not a shinobi. I am sure you know about me. About how I faced rejection and failure due to my birth defect. My chakra network was not properly formed in the womb and thus I can only use taijutsu. This is not an uncommon thing and most people this happens to remain civilians. But all the other kids were becoming ninja. I abhorred the idea of being left out. So I became determined to become an exclusive taijutsu practitioner and to become such as expert at it, that someday I could become a Tokubetsu Jonin. I wanted to prove my worth and I dedicated my whole life and effort to it.”

 

“Sounds noble,” said Gaara. “I'm sorry you nearly lost your reason for living on my account.”

 

“There, you have just said it,” said Lee. “My reason for living? This cannot be my reason for living. I cannot define myself only as a shinobi. If I were to lose that, I realized I am still a magnificent person with no lack of myself to give the world. I am a person and a friend first and a shinobi second. That is what Gai Sensei should have realized but if he did, he did not say so in any obvious manner. I came here tonight to ask you not to go easy on me tomorrow. Whatever happens, happens. And you should not feel bad about it. I will not.”

 

Gaara looked up at the sky. “You have absolutely no idea how different my life would have turned out if I and the people around me had thought of me as a person and friend above all else instead of a weapon. Don't you go easy on me either, Rock Lee of the Leaf.”

 

---

 

The next day came all too quickly. The crowds packed back into the stadium. Security was extra tight. The Waterfall team had still not been found. Each security team had a ninja hound. If they tried to sneak in by use of a transformation jutsu, they'd be caught. At the Leaf hospital, the television in almost every patient room was tuned to the fight. Choji's room was particularly crowded. Ino was there in a wheelchair along with Sakura, Choza, Inoichi, and Shikaku seated in various chairs.

 

Gai, Kakashi, Kurenai, and Asuma all sat together in the first row of the main section. For once Kakashi had not been late. He knew the good seats would go fast. Even then, they would have had no chance had they not been with Gai. People were nice enough to make room for a man who was the sensei of competitors in both matches. Baki didn't take a seat. He asked to stand next to an ANBU posted towards the front of the crowd. The ANBU agreed. It put both of them in a good position to do something if there was any trouble from anyone during Gaara's match. That left Yura and Shigeru to sit with the oil investors and keep them entertained.

 

The crowd rose to its feet as Tsunade and the leaders of every other village in alliance with the Leaf were introduced and took up their positions in the VIP box. In the absence of a Kazekage, Ebizo represented the Hidden Sand among the leaders. In another VIP box, the kids who had already fought and lost were sat down (with the exception of Sakura who felt her place was with her team at the hospital). Finally Shikamaru and the Feudal Lord judges were introduced again.

 

“What a pain,” thought Shikamaru to himself. “I'd much rather be with Choji and the others watching this on TV.”

 

“And now ladies and gentlemen,” called out the announcer, “Welcome back for the second and final day of competition. All four competitors have worked very hard to get here and now is their time to shine. So without further adieu, let us begin with our first Semifinal match of the day. We introduce to you Gaara of the Sand and Rock Lee of the Leaf.”

 

It was over thunderous applause that the two entered the field. Lee hadn't even bothered putting his leg weights on. He had concealed a little bit of sake on him but Shikamaru had seen it earlier in the day and informed it that it would technically be in violation of the rules. He made him leave it in the locker room. Lee was very bitter. It hardly seemed fair to deprive a competitor of demonstrating to the judges what they were capable of just because booze was involved and he was a minor. He decided that he'd file an official petition for a change to the rules as soon as the competition was over.

 

The two met Shikamaru in the center.

 

“OK boys, nice to see your smiling faces this fine morning.” Shikamaru spoke in jest. The two looked about as dead serious as any two people could have looked. “As always I expect you both to listen carefully for the sound of my voice for instructions. Well, this it. Good luck. FIGHT!”

 

Lee didn't give Gaara's gourd a chance to produce a single grain of sand before he made a move. He shot out his forearm at Gaara's face and while some of the sand was occupied blocking that, he quickly drove his left fist into Gaara's gut. Gaara's sand attempted to close around his wrist so he quickly yanked his hand back and attempted a flying kick but it was blocked.

 

Gaara immediately went on the counteroffensive. He began to use a strategy of using Sand Shuriken without any Shukaku transformation which normally accompanied the technique. He executed this in a wide spread with rapid fire due to Lee's speed. But he just couldn't hit him. Lee dodged between the blasts of sand and got in close enough to launch a kick. When the sand blocked it, he used the same strategy as before and immediately shot off the other leg in Gaara's direction. The force was great enough to strike Gaara with the defending mass of sand. The blow had been cushioned but not prevented.

 

“I would not advise relying on sand for all your defense,” said Lee. “You have limbs, you should use them.”

 

“They couldn't compete with yours,” replied Gaara dryly. “With your style my sand will prove necessary for everything.” With that he slapped the ground. The dirt below his feet gradually began changing to sand. “I wanted you to see a new trick I came up with that got its inspiration from fighting Naruto.” Long streams of sand formed into solid masses and attached themselves to his gourd; nine in all. “Nine Tails of Sand Jutsu!”

 

Gaara slowly approached Lee and let the tails of sand do the work. They flung out attempting to strike him. Their sheer number helped compensate for Lee's speed. Lee once again tried to weave his way in between them to get closer to Gaara but every single move was met with one tail blocking him and several more trying to attack. Lee retreated to a safe distance. Truly this was a formidable technique.

 

“I too have been inspired by someone I have fought,” announced Lee. “And now I will show you something I have been working on in secret these past few months.”

 

Lee began to circulate as much chakra as he possibly could without opening a gate. He had his hands in the Uma sign but he seemed to be using them to focus since he obviously couldn't do anything involving hand signs. He was breathing hard. All of the sudden, to everyone's amazement, he reached inside his parka and whipped out a very long knife. Without a moment's hesitation he attacked with new and erratic movements that the tails could not keep up with. He wasn't drunk. What was this?

 

“Dance of the Camellia!”

 

It was Kimimaro's style of taijutsu. Lee managed to get right up close to Gaara and take a stab at him. He managed to penetrate the Sand Shield. The Sand Armor held up but to Gaara's horror, he felt blood trickling down his body. The cut had not inflicted serious damage but the blade had indeed cut him in the chest and lacerated the skin. When the tails attempted to move in, Lee cut through two of them and slashed Gaara's face. The armor did nothing that time.

 

Gaara understood all too well the dilemma he was facing. He could regenerate any tails that Lee could cut off but that took a few moments and time is something he would not be given to work with. Not only that but his normal defenses seemed insufficient. He had to stop the Camellia technique right away or Lee might actually harm him. The tails would have to go and he'd have to try something else. He began to launch Sand Shuriken again for no other reason than to force Lee back and put some distance between the two. He then clapped his hands.

 

“I, Saru, Ne, Uma, Saru, Uma, Hitsuji, Uma!”

 

Gaara clapped again and stuck the earth.

 

“Sand Tsunami!”

 

Lee tried to run at once. With his attention diverted, a hand made out of solid sand shot out of the ground and crushed his blade. He turned around to observe the massive tidal wave of sand coming at him. Jumping over it was out of the question. Running to the right was out. Running to the left just might get him out of the way in time to avoid it. Or better yet…

 

Gaara was astonished that Lee hadn't gotten out of the way yet. Another moment or two and it would be too late. Up in the stands, Gai grinned as he noticed what Lee was doing.

 

“Um, your prize pupil is about to get crushed, Gai,” said Asuma. “Please tell me he has something up his sleeve.”

 

“Indeed he does have something up his sleeve,” replied Gai. “His arm. Which will be quite sufficient. Just watch.”

 

Lee had his hands in the Mi symbol this time and was again building up massive chakra.

 

“Passive Fist!”

 

He ran up to the incoming wall of sand, stuck his hand out, and plowed right through it.

 

“I've never seen that one before,” said Asuma.

 

“I have,” replied Kakashi. He looked over at a grinning Gai. “Opposite tactic this year, eh?”

 

Gai nodded. “The Passive Fist style puts very little strain on the body. His chakra will place enormous amounts of pressure on anything he pushes on with his hand. Not as much movement is required either.”

 

“Dodging would have been less risky and used no chakra,” said Kakashi. “Gai, you didn't by any chance tell him to show off for the judges, did you?”

 

“Why shouldn't I? That is the general idea here, isn't it?”

 

“I tend to think they'd be more interested in seeing how he'd fare in actual combat than to see how many tricks he can pull off,” replied Kakashi.

 

“No,” said Gai. “It's not enough. Not with Lee. Not with someone no one takes seriously because he can only use taijutsu. No, that boy will have to do twice as much to earn half the recognition. No one said life was fair.”

 

Lee charged at Gaara like a raging bull. Gaara tried to use the quicksand he'd created to swallow him up only to have Lee hit the ground with his palms. The Passive Fist created enough pressure not only to bring him back up to the surface but to condense the quicksand back into regular earth.

 

Gaara quickly used Desert Suspension. He wasn't sure if even his more advanced defensive mechanisms would work at this point. He floated up into the air far above Lee.

 

“Surprise!”

 

With his new jutsu activated, Lee managed to jump high enough to reach him. With a mighty kick, Gaara found himself launched off of the floating cloud of sand. Lee didn't waste one moment. He immediately opened a chakra gate and wrapped up Gaara in bandages. Gaara knew a Front Lotus was coming and that his chances of surviving such a technique were next to zero. Before Lee had a chance to really begin, Gaara repositioned the floating cloud of sand directly below them both. They landed with a thud. Gaara head butted Lee, sending him crashing to the ground below. Since Lee had a gate open, the injury was slightly more serious than it normally would have been.

 

“Ugh,” moaned Lee as he picked himself up. “I wish I had actually worn my forehead protector on my forehead where it belongs. The sacrifices we make for fashion.” He wiped blood away from his eyes and closed the gate. Gaara landed. “You are not perhaps using Shadow Clones, are you? I see three of you.”

 

Gaara turned his gourd into sand, letting it spill onto the ground. This caused the bandages holding him to simply fall off. Lee rose to his feet again and shook his head. Again he circulated chakra and this time formed the Tori sign.

 

“More surprises?” asked Gaara.

 

Lee did not answer. He was starting to get tired. If something didn't work soon his only option would be to open as many gates as he could and take an enormous risk.

 

“Rooster Fist!”

 

“Rooster Fist?” asked Gaara in disbelief.

 

“Rooster Fist?” asked Kakashi. He couldn't believe it either. “Even I haven't heard of that one.”

 

“Kakashi, my greatest rival, you have much to learn,” said Gai. “How does a rooster defend itself?”

 

“It doesn't and it gets eaten,” replied Kurenai.

 

“Be serious,” said Gai.

 

“It pecks,” said Asuma.

 

“Correct. And as you will see, the fist can peck as well. And now Kakashi, you can say you've learned something today.”

 

“Huh? I'm sorry, were you talking Gai? I was watching the fight and didn't hear you.”

 

Gai clenched his fist in anger. He looked like he was going to have a stroke.

 

Down on the field, Lee bunched all his fingers up together. His hand did indeed look a little like a bird of some sort with a beak. Without warning he flew straight at Gaara so fast that even Kakashi's Sharingan was unable to follow. He stopped right behind him and hit him in the back of his body in several places with his fingers in a manner that did indeed resemble pecking. Gaara fell on his face. To his utter astonishment he couldn't move.

 

“The Rooster Fist attacks several vulnerable spots on the body that have high nerve concentrations,” said Lee. “Rather than a strong blunt force from a single punch, it utilizes a smaller, sharper force in several areas.”

 

The Sphere of Sand began to form around Gaara. He still could not rise. Sensation was very slowly returning to the nerves that had been affected by Lee's attack. Lee wiped some more blood from his eyes and then turned his attention to the sphere. With a loud cry he lashed out at the sand with rapid blows of the Rooster Fist. He stood back and sure enough the area he struck shattered. Gaara slowly rose to his feet.

 

“So, it's not just an attack that works against the body is it Lee?”

 

“No,” replied Lee. “Several hundred milder hits are sometimes more effective than one enormous one.”

 

Gaara frowned. “About now I wish I had the Third Kazekage's Iron Sand. Sphere of Sand!'

 

The orb of condensed sand appeared around Gaara once again.

 

“This again?” said Lee. “Perhaps you did not learn from the last demonstration. Rooster Fist!”

 

But this time, to Lee's surprise, it didn't work. Gaara had not packed the sand with the same level of density. The Third Eye appeared and spikes began to grow out of the sphere. And now the sphere was taking on a completely spherical shape.

 

“Spiked Human Hamster Ball!”

 

If Lee hadn't been so intrigued he might have laughed at the name Gaara had given the attack. The ball began to roll towards Lee; slowly at first but it began to build up more and more speed with every passing moment. Lee realized that Gaara was either floating on a cloud of sand inside the ball or had escaped and was underground. He couldn't possibly be moving that quickly himself.

 

“Way to rip off Choji,” muttered Lee to himself. “But Gaara can move this thing way faster so this is way more effective than Bullet Tank.”

 

Rooster Fist would have to be abandoned. Trying to strike this thing with that particular attack would have only resulted in the loss of Lee's arm. For a few moments he was helpless to do anything except flee. He realized he was down to his last option. The one thing that was most effective, most risky, and had nearly ended his career. The thing he'd spent the entire fight trying to avoid. He'd have to use the Reverse Lotus. And this time Gaara would have to be knocked out completely because Lee would be totally vulnerable when the attack was over. But first he'd have to deal Gaara's attack. Either way, he needed to open as many gates as he could.

 

“First Gate: Gate of Opening, open! Second Gate: Gate of Healing, open!” Lee began to glow with chakra. “Third Gate: Gate of Life, open!” Lee's skin turned red. “Fourth Gate: Gate of Pain, open!” Lee's muscles increased slightly in size. His head wound began to bleed more. He raced up and hit the Hamster Ball with everything he had. He could feel a muscle in his back tear. Gaara crashed right through the ball's side and went flying. Lee raced over to where he was about to land.

 

“Leaf Whirlwind!”

 

Lee's kick sent Gaara flying upward.

 

“Fifth Gate: Gate of Limit, open!” Lee crouched down and prepared to leap up and hit Gaara with everything he had.

 

“Stop the match!” hollered Shikamaru. Lee halted and Gaara hit the ground with a thud and did not rise right away.

 

For a moment, Lee was confused as to why Shikamaru had stopped him. But then to his shock, he realized his head was now bleeding profusely due to the strain he'd put on himself.

 

“MEDIC!” screamed Shikamaru. Lee was losing blood fast. Shizune and her entourage sprinted out to his location.

 

Gaara struggled to his feet. He was genuinely concerned for Lee.

 

“Don't get up!” hollered a medic. He was right. Gaara was in bad shape himself. He sat back down.

 

Shikamaru watched for a moment as medical teams tended to both participants. Finally when it was clear to him that both of them were stabilized he made his official announcement.

 

“Winner: Gaara!”

 

Both fighters received a standing ovation from the capacity crowd. Perhaps none clapped so loud as the oil investors. Gai was in tears.

 

“I'm so proud of that boy. So… very proud…”

 

“You should be, Gai,” said Kakashi.

 

From up in the box, Temari and Kankuro were all grins.

 

“Wish I could clap,” said Kankuro. His arm was still in a cast. The fracture had been a serious one and Mystical Palm wasn't enough to heal it. “Those two have both come so far in such a short amount of time.”

 

“I wish Dad were alive to see this and choke on it,” said Temari. “Whatever purpose they had in mind for him… well he's evolved so far from it that it would take the light of that purpose a million years to reach him. He's out of our league for sure. And not just as a fighter either.”

 

Down on the field, Lee grinned. “I guess you did kind of take it easy on me.”

 

“What do you mean?” asked Gaara. “If your body hadn't given out, I would have been toast.”

 

“You did not transform,” replied Lee with smirk.

 

“True, but first of all I can't control that thing very well and second of all, it wouldn't be my best, it would be his.”

 

“I know,” said Lee. “I am only teasing. You are the best.”

 

The two were lifted up on stretchers and carried off the field. The medics would have to work fast. After the next match, Gaara would have only three hours to be ready to fight again.

 

End Chapter 15

 

© 2009 Joseph Kerner

 

Disclaimer: Naruto is the creation of Masashi Kishimoto