Saving Lee

"Humph!"

'Does he think that by removing some measly little weights is going to enable him to outmaneuver Gaara's. sand?' Temari thought as she snorted with disdain.

A massive pile of dust arose from the spot where the weights had landed, as it destroyed the tatami blocks that made up the battle floor. The hall reacted with surprise, thinking of the weight bore by the young man all this time.

At this moment a battle cry was heard. "GO, LEE" Gai commanded upon which Lee disappeared from his spot as he had teleported. Gaara was extremely surprised seeing Lee appear out of nowhere. Lee rushed in to give a punch, which Gaara had not even seen coming. By the time Gaara had reacted, a kick had already been thrown on the other side which was again blocked by his sand. Lee circled Gaara as he sent a flurry of Kicks and punches.

Soon Lee had gathered a high enough of momentum as he launched himself in the air and landed with a dropkick which had pierced through the armor and landed on Gaara's face like a hot blade that pierced through freezing cold butter. Temari and Kankuro's expressions became grim as they had to accept the fact that Gaara was now injured.

"YOUTH IS. EX-PLOSION" Gai shouted raising Lee's battle intent in the process which had soared through the roof as he dove into action once again by running towards Gaara. Lee had disappeared sending one ripple….Two ripples…. Into Gaara's sand barrier. Lee had gathered his momentum once again by the third strike as he sent a Straight-Right punch that sent Gaara flying away as he crashed for about a metre before stopping. 'I got him good' Lee thought.

Just as Lee had the thought, Gaara woke up like a zombie, while his sand armor crumbled apart revealing a bit of the terrifying face that lied underneath. After Gaara stood up, the sand on the ground, flew to his face slowly restoring the calm and uninterested look that Gaara had before. Temari and Kankuro instinctively understood the pressure Gaara was facing since he to resort to the sand armor ability. Lee knew that mere punches and kicks would not work anymore. 'I'll have to do major damage from above the sand guard. There is only one option left…That will be Lotus…' he thought.

Lee opened up the white bands that covered his arm. He then took a particular stance, as he compressed the muscles to their limits 'Prepare yourself' He announced in his mind. Lee's muscles released the potential energy that was gathered like an arrow leaving a pulled bow string. He started circling Gaara to the point that only the whirlwind and afterimages of his actions were visible to everyone who watched. Gaara felt irritated. "Just bring it on already" Gaara said with disdain.

Lee smiled as he kept running. "You've asked for IT!" Lee strained his voice as he teleported to the space in front of Gaara and sent him up with a kick that looked like an uppercut. Gaara flew into the air, but Lee did not stop at that. Lee took a deep breath as he summoned all his present strength to deliver a series of kicks that started to push Gaara up one after another. Lee knew they had reached the highest point, as he whipped his bands to wrap Gaara in it, Gai closed his eyes as he began to pray for Lee's victory.

"TAKE THIS" Lee shouted as he spiraled along with Gaara towards the ground. 'Hidden Taijutsu - Primary Lotus'. Lee announced as he and Gaara spiraled towards the ground. The ground shattered the floor leaving only a crater and a broken sand shell of Gaara lying in it. Gaara appeared from out of a pile of sand and launched a sneak attack on Lee's back, Lee jumped away, but got hit into a wall, the group of spectators looked on as he stood forth, seeing his condition Kakashi looked over to Guy and shouted, "You didn't teach him that did you?" Guy looked smug as he said, "Lee is a genius; he didn't have the ability to use Nin-Jutsu, and Gen-Jutsu so all he could focus on was his Tai-Jutsu.

"So that kid is actually able to perform the reverse lotus? How many gates can he open?" Kakashi asked. "5, Lee can open 5 gates at the moment." Guy responded, making Kakashi gasp and activate his Sharingan to observe the battle.

Lee rushed towards Gaara caring the broken debris of the floor behind him, the battle intensified Gaara was being knocked around the grounds like a ping pong ball, Lee was moving so fast that the sand couldn't keep up; Gaara tried to defend when Lee hit him high into the air and appeared on top of him.

Lee unleashed his fifth gate, the gate of Expression. He roared as he slammed his fist into Gaara's body, as he was sent flying towards the ground, Lee had managed to grab onto his sash and pulled him back up by, all the power gathered in his fist and foot, and with a single twisting motion he hit Gaara in the stomach with both while shouting, "Reverse Lotus." Gaara shot into the ground, just before he hit, his gourd turned into sand and softened the impact.

As Lee came down he looked exhausted, lee was a little disappointed that his muscle transformation didn't do anything to extend the duration or the taxation of the Chakra Gate openings. However it appeared that not only did it made him stronger, but also made the strain greater as well. I turned to Kakashi and said "Kakashi sensei, better stop this now or lee is going to be crippled for life".

Guy looked at me and asked "How do you say that so confidently?" I pointed to my fully matured sharingan and said "I can see the next move with the buildup of chakra in the sand." Gai understood the seriousness and jumped towards the arena and destroyed the sand before it could crush any of Lee's bones. Gaara struggled to stand back up; when he suddenly saw the strength in Guy's eyes he grabbed his head as if he was in pain. "Why do you help him?" Gaara asked gritting the pain through his teeth. "Because he's my lovable precocious student." Gaara frowned as his sand armor slowly recovered, he placed the cork back in the gourd and turned around while saying, "Just forget it."

Lee stood forward and said "But Guy Sensei I can still fight." Guy turned around and slapped Lee while crying, "Damn it Lee, being a man isn't all about winning. A real man knows when it's time to back down, but you must never forget this loss, use it to help you grow stronger." "Guy Sensei." Lee had tears in his eyes as they hugged; Hayate coughed a few times to clear the mood, "Gaara wins! Now if you could leave the stage as it needs repairs."