"No way…."
"Gai, Don't tell me you…?" Kakashi waited for Gai's response on the matter
"It's exactly as you have imagined," Gai confirmed Kakashi's suspicion.
"So that boy…"
"can open the Eight Inner Gates in his body and use the Hidden Lotus…" Kakashi asked.
"The hidden Lotus?" Sasuke and Neji looked at Gai and Kakashi.
"That's right," Gai said with no expression on his face.
"How many gates can he open now?" Kakashi asked.
"About five gates" Gai replied.
"What is the Eight Inner gates?" Sakura asked curiously.
Gai took his time to explain the ability to Neji, Sasuke, Sakura, and even Karin while Kakashi was observing the battle with his Sharingan.
Lee ran towards Gaara who stood in front of him with Blood coming out of his head while he stared at Lee crazily, as though he wanted to swallow him up.
Gaara didn't care about winning now, all he wanted to do was kill Lee.
Gaara sent a huge load of sand under lee.
< Hidden Jutsu - Sand Coffin >
The sand around Lee grabbed onto him quickly and covered his entire body.
Lee once again murmured this time but more slowly…
"Third Gate…"
"Gate of life…."
"OPEN!"
(BOOM!) a massive burst of chakra split open the sand cocoon that was built around Lee.
"AAAAAHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!" Lee screamed as a huge force revolved around his body.
Lee's body became red, as his blood kept circling about his body enriching those hard trained muscles of his that were developed through many years of sheer effort, and also the pride and joy he had cultivated towards his ultimate dream.
"The time to carry through and protect one's Way of the Ninja!"
Lee's chakra network had surpassed its third set of limiters as it bore a tremendous amount of pressure on his body.
The pain coursing through Lee's body kept his eyes wide open and his teeth constantly gritting against each other, barely able to maintain the pressure that was placed on the body from opening the third set of limiters.
"Accept your death as the prey you are!" Gaara screamed at Lee as he sent his sand towards him once again,
< Hidden Jutsu - Sand Coffin >
The sand gathered under Lee, but his body emitted vast amounts of pressure to the extent the sand could not lift.
Lee looked at Gaara in anger as he screamed.
"FOURTH GATE"
"GATE OF PAIN"
"OPEN!"
This action more than doubled the pressure on his small 15-year-old body. Nerves started appearing all over, to the extent that he was getting numb towards the sensation of pain.
Lee bent down gathering a massive amount of potential energy.
He then blasted forth like a bullet shot from a gun, making all the tatami blocks to fly off due to the pure muscle strength behind his jump.
Even though Gaara was angry, he could only watch all the milliseconds go by as though he was stuck in time, while only Lee had the freedom to move around.
Lee kicked Gaara up towards the ceiling.
The two moves that were just made by Lee had so much impact across the hall that it sent dust flying everywhere to the extent only some of the jounins present could continue to watch the battle.
Gaara continued to fly towards the ceiling from the inertial force of Lee's kick.
Gaara could only grit his teeth in the incredible pain, as he could not control sand since his gourd had already broken down, causing him to leave the sand on the floor.
(crack!) a sound was heard as cracks started appearing around Gaara's sand armor.
Sasuke and Neji were surprised to see Lee's movements while using the Eight Inter gates.
He no longer seemed like a hot-blooded youth, but he was more like a bloody monstrous human, that fought using Taijutsu.
Gaara finally reached the maximum height the kick could send him, but Lee appeared instantly causing Gaara's expression to worsen.
"I see it's that sand armor again…"
"Then how about this?" Lee asked in fury as he kicked Gaara in a particular direction.
Lee went to the ground and immediately appeared behind Gaara sending him flying in a different direction.
He continued the series of actions by repeatedly kicking around Gaara like a game of football that took place in mid-air, where all the players were him, except that he manually appeared in each player's spot each time instead of an ability like clone jutsu.
Neji witnessed Lee's movements and asked himself.
("Is that really Lee?")
("When did he become like this…?")
Meanwhile, Naruto was praying for the outcome to be favorable for Lee.
("That's the power of the Eight Inner Gates") Sasuke praised while he admired Lee's fight.
The sand armor kept crumbling away, but it did not disappear completely…
Lee knew that there was only one way to end this fight.
"The Fifth Gate…"
"GATE OF CLOSING…"
"OPEN!"
Lee almost felt his consciousness fail.
("Is this the movement of a human being?") Gaara asked himself.
Lee turned towards the side as he saw Sasuke, Neji, and Naruto.
The high heart rate and an extreme rush of blood, gave him a lot of time to think between the high paced fight.
("Sasuke…")
("I envied your bloodline…")
FB -chapter 20
"Uchiha Sasuke, not only can you perform ninjutsu but you also have the Sharingan….."
"People like me can only hope to match with your talents through sheer hard work….." Lee said as he saw Sasuke getting up once again.
(Naruto…)
("Thank you for believing in me…")
FlashBack - chapter 3
Naruto bowed towards Lee and Gai after he wore back his weights and prepared to leave. He turned back towards Lee with a smile on his face, "You can defeat Neji, Lee, you already possess the ability to do so…"
"Thanks, Naruto-kun" Lee almost cried as he raised his hand to wipe the tears away before it could appear.
FlashBack - chapter 36
"Failure can become genius, through hard work," Naruto said as he left the stage.
Naruto put his hand over Lee's shoulder and said
"Do you remember what I said to you back in the forest after we finished training?" Naruto asked
"After training?" Lee thought hard.
Naruto smiled towards Lee.
"I told you that someday you will defeat Neji!"
("Neji…")
("This technique is my ace in the hole to take you down…")
("But I will especially show it to you)
Lee jumped back toward the ceiling.
He used it as a springboard to jump forward as he thrust his fist into Gaara's stomach. This caused Gaara to lose his consciousness from the inability to feel the pain.
However, that was not enough…
Lee used the cloth which was currently hanging around Gaara that was used to hold Gaara's sand gourd to pull him back as he prepared his fist for one last punch…
< Hidden Taijutsu - Hidden Lotus! >
Lee shouted as he sent Gaara flying straight to the ground.
(BOOM!)
Gaara's body got embedded into the ground while Lee landed nearby.
Naruto finally felt his anxiousness disappear away.
Gaara did not land on the ground with his gourd which turned into sand to cushion him as it had happened in the previous world.
Hayate walked towards Lee, who was barely able to maintain his consciousness, while Gaara had already lost his own.
However, at this moment the impossible had happened.
Gaara started standing up.
Naruto almost had his eyes pop out.
"Naruto!"
"This is bad. Everyone should get away!" Kurama warned him.
"Why?" Naruto asked.
"Because Shukaku is going to take possession of him…"
"What?" Naruto was shocked.
Gaara did not move at all, while he stood like a statue not moving a single part.
"Impossible!" Lee shook his head slowly.
Hayate looked towards Lee who was unable to continue his battle as he was unable to stand up even though he was conscious.
Gai rushed towards Lee upon feeling something ominous on Gaara.
Hayate concluded that since Lee's jounin teacher had come out, the match was over.
"The winner of the Ninth match."
"Gaara!" Hayate announced.
However, at that moment a huge sound was made.
"GOOOOHHHHHH!!!!!!" Gaara growled like a monster.
Gai stared at Gaara whose eyes had no pupils.
Meanwhile, Baki, Temari, and Kankuro had completely lost their composure.
"That Gaara, why does he have to lose it here." Baki murmured in helplessness.
"Oh!"
"This is quite the development!" Orochimaru was interested.
Hiruzen knew this was not good.
"Anko!"
"Go to their jounin leader and ask if he has a seal to suppress the boy."
"Yes!" Anko said as she left.
Hiruzen then signaled in a particular direction.
An ANBU agent landed in front of him.
"Call in a sealing team!"
"Yes!" The agent affirmed and disappeared.
Hiruzen then turned towards the jounin and nodded.
Kakashi, Kurenai, and Asuma knew that they had to evacuate the contestants at this moment…