Chapter 52 Final Elimination

So far things were going well for the exams, thought the Hokage. He was happy to see that Kakashi's team had made it all the way through. It was very rare thing to happen, but it went a long way to prove that he could deliver what he promised when the team was formed. Already he could see potential in them all. Although it was a bit sad that the Last Uchiha couldn't fight but from the reports he got, that might have been a hidden blessing. The thought of his old student still pained him deeply, he always wondered where he had gone wrong with the boy. What had caused him to change or had it been gradual? Had he been blinded by his love for the boy that made him miss the signs?

That was the sad thing he had loved the boy almost like a son. Such a gifted and talented boy, he had so much promise and yet he became nothing short of a monster. The old man always wished he could undo his greatest failure Orochimaru hadn't always been the man he was now. Looking at the youngsters here, he was wondering how many Orochimaru's lay hidden under the masks of innocence?

He was feeling his age now, he was old and tired but the village still needed him. He just wasn't sure just how much longer he could hold out. His spirit still held the Will of Fire, but his body was another story. Perhaps it was time to start thinking on retirement again he was one of the oldest Kages in history, but times where changing. He could feel it in his bones and a new leader would be needed soon. The only problem was with who.

The board came alive as the names randomly danced over the screen until it settled on two more names.

Dosu Kinuta vs Choji Akimichi

"Oh man, I got to fight the scary looking mummy guy?" Choji had remembered what he had seen before, how that guy had taken out Kabuto with one blow.

"Oh come on you can do this," Ino told him. "I bet Asuma-sensei will take us out to BBQ if we all pass, right?"

Asuma smiled and nodded his head, "that's right if you all pass then I'll take you all out, on me."

He hoped they did win, or at least tie with Kakashi's team, then the pot would be split and he could afford it. Every chunin exams, all the Leaf ninja jonins would put in for a pot. Everyone that had one winner got a smaller prize but no one had gotten a slam dunk before that is until Team 7.

"Just be careful of that thing on his arm," Shikamaru said to his best friend. "I don't know what it is, but it looks important."

"Oh, okay then. Thanks and you can bet that I'll bring home a win!" Choji said with enthusiasm as he walked down to the arena. He could already taste the juicy meat, man he couldn't wait to eat. Soon he came face to face with his opponent.

"Look Fatty, if you want to die that bad then by all means give me your best shot." Dosu said to him chuckling.

"What did you just call me!?" Choji yelled out enraged. "I'm not fat, I'm husky, Expansion Jutsu!"

His whole body just expanded like a balloon, then he pulled his arms and legs into his body like a turtle as blue chakra was seen for a moment. Then his head went in and he became a giant ball. Dosu was taken by surprise as he never heard of something like this before. He quickly threw himself to the left as the other boy came at him like some kind of giant bolder.

The boy was spinning himself making himself move with a decent amount of speed. Dosu noticed that although he was large, he was only fast in going one direction. When the big boy turned he had to turn in a wide arc and he doubted the boy could adjust his aim on the fly. He dodged again to check and it was working out. He was able to dodge but the other boy couldn't turn quick enough to capitalise.

Now he just needed a way to make the boy stop for just a moment, he couldn't hit him while he was spinning that fast. He remembered what happened to Kin and decided to use the wall to his advantage. He manoeuvred himself to the wall and waited. The boy was coming at him just like he knew he would and at the last moment he jumped out of the way. Choji slammed into the wall making himself stuck, now Dosu had a chance.

Although he couldn't use his sound wave with his head covered, sound could travel in other ways. He slammed his gauntlet into the body's body and activated it. The sounds moved through the body, they travelled through it until it reached the inner ears. At that point it was all over as Choji lost his concentration and turned back to normal and fell the ground unable to stand.

"Ah man I was sure he was going to win," Ino whined, "What the hell happened?"

"Choji's body acted like a conduit for the sound," Shikamaru told her. "The sound travelled inside of him instead of outside."

"Oh man I was looking forward to getting treated too." Ino sighed. "Well I hope he's okay at least."

"Yeah he should be fine if just really dizzy." He told her.

Kiba Inuzuka vs Gendo Kaji

Kiba looked at his opponent, he didn't know what to expect from the foreigner, although his ice blue eyes were hard and cold as his face. The boy looked very controlled and it was hard to tell what kind of ninja he was. Well he wasn't going to wait around, he charged forward but the other boy just stood his ground. As soon as he lashed out, at the last moment the boy moved. It was quick and fast, he first dodged his blow then took his wrist and gave a punch to his armpit. The pain Kiba felt was intense, but the boy didn't stop, he kicked him hard in the ribs making the Leaf ninja fly back.

"If this is the best you can do, you will die this day." Gendo said coldly to him.

Kiba held his arm from the pain, the nerves under the armpit were very sensitive and apparently the Mist ninja was good as hand to hand combat. Well it looks like he would have to pull out all the stops, he placed his hands into a seal for a special one that only his clan use.

Ninja Art of Beast Mimicry: All-Fours Jutsu Kiba thought to himself as the chakra in his body started to make the changes. This was something that his clan used, it was a secret how it was done, but what it did was make the user more canine. Giving them enhanced senses but also enhanced speed, strength and reflexes. His canine teeth expanded as his finger nails turned more into claws, he leapt at the other boy ready to slash with his claws.

Gendo was hard pressed to dodge this time as the claws managed to just cut through his clothing but only just that. Gendo took a step back as he studied his opponent, the boy was too sure of himself and charged right in. Kiba did just that, charging in wildly but Gendo was ready for that kind of speed and adjusted accordingly. He jumped back and reached behind the small of his back with his left hand, he pulled out a knight he kept for in close combat where his sword was too large.

He dropped down as he gave a cut to Kiba's arm, then revered the blade and swept back with it cutting Kiba's coat as he missed the ribs.

Kiba hadn't expected the Mist ninja to be this tough. Well he would have to deal with not just him, he was saving his dog just in case, and it would look like it was time to call him out.

"Akamaru, I think it's time boy." he dug into his pocket as he pulled out one of the special bills used for the dogs. His small dog jumped up to eat it, his fur became brown as he got more wild looking. This was a battle pill used to make their dogs even more powerful in battle. Kiba crouched down as his dog landed on his back.

There was a puff of smoke and suddenly there were two Kibas there in the arena.

Gendo didn't look impressed. "Two or one, it's still the same to me."

"Oh yeah well try this one, Fang over Fang!" Kiba shouted out as both of them jumped out at him and turned into twisting whirlwinds of destruction.

Gendo quickly overcame his surprise and dodged, but he was hit slightly on the shoulder. His uniform was ripped and also he felt his skin was torn slightly as well. He didn't get much of a breather as they came around for another go. He pulled his sword to parry one of them, but the other slashed him in the back.

He was kept on the defensive, he was only just barely to keep from being torn apart even more. Gendo pulled a smoke bomb to hide himself, but the smoke may had blinded most ninja but for an Inuzuka they had other ways to see.

"You think this will stop us, we can still smell you." Kiba grinned as they fought on.

"Who said that was the reason I wanted to hide from your sight?" came Gendo's voice. The only problem was that Kiba heard it behind him but he could smell him from ahead. Then a sharp pain bit into his skin as he cried out. He heard Akamaru cry out as well, but more cuts came into Kiba's body.

When the smoke cleared both Kiba and Akamaru were laying on the ground wounded from several cuts. There were also several versions of Gendo there as well.

"What the hell?" Kiba asked weakly.

"Kai," Gendo said as the others dissolved into water. He had used water clones while under the cover of the smoke and attacked from different angles.

Kiba lay there feeling the pain of the sword slash, it hurt like hell. He had never been wounded before and he could smell his own blood. He coughed as he looked up to the ceiling trying to move but it hurt too much. Gendo walked over to him, dragging the sword on the ground, the scrapping sound was like a death toll in Kiba's ears. He looked up to see the other boy with a cold grin on his face.

"Time to end this mutt," Gendo said as he raised his sword to finish him off. Kiba could only stare in horror as this boy was going to kill him.

"Kiba-kun!" Hinata yelled out as she covered her mouth in horror. "Kurenai-sensei!"

"Proctor!" Kurenai yelled out, "As the boy's sensei I forfeit for him, stop the match!" Kurenai didn't want to have the boy die there in the ring and didn't want to take the chance that the Proctor could wait too long to stop it. These exams were deadly at times and the Mist ninja was out for blood.

"Alright this match is over then," the Proctor said.

Gendo looked sourly at them, "What are you talking about? The boy still lives, so this fight goes on until one of us dies. That is how we do things in my village, the strong survive and the weak die, that is the way of the world. We only came here for one reason." He eyed Team 7 who were watching him. "To show how a real Mist ninja dose things."

His sword started to come down but to everyone's shock, Kiba's body faded away. The young Mist ninja was taken a back by it but soon found a kunai to his throat. He looked to see that Kurenai was behind him, giving him a hard look that said he would have to get past her to finish Kiba off. The Mist genin knew that he was no match for a jonin, and that the boy was most likely hidden behind some kind of genjutsu.

He put away his blade as he glare back at her, "Codling your students will only get them killed when you are not there. It is better he dies now so that a stronger one can replace him."

"We do things differently here," She told him.

"Obviously," The boy said in disdain of her actions and left to join his teammates.

Kurenai got rid of the genjutsu as the medics came running to see to the boy. Kurenai was worried, the wound was nasty although thankfully it looked like Kiba would pull through although it would take time for that wound to heal, and would be his first scar from battle as well. She looked to see the worried looks of her team and of the others who were friends with the boy and his dog. She would have to let them know he would be okay, although the boy's comment on 'codling' rang through her head.

Was she too easy on her students? She didn't think so, then again the Mist were more extreme in their practices and training. Perhaps she should review a bit of their training, if they ever came up against someone like that again and she wasn't around…the thought wasn't a pleasant one.

Tenten vs Temari

Tenten grinned as it was her turn up, she couldn't wait for her chance. She got the ring eagerly as she waited for the other girl to show up. She was at least a year older and seemed to have some kind of weapon behind her. That was good, she loved fighting other people who used weapons.

Neji was starting to worry, since the start of this match Tenten had not been doing too well. It was just bad luck that she got the worst possible opponent for this match. He hadn't known that Temari was a wind user. Tenten was trying everything but she couldn't get close to the Suna girl, that fan was keeping Tenten at a distance. Plus the strong winds were blowing all her weapons away. He watched as Tenten was forced to use the one technique that was her best one, he watched as Tenten pulled out two scrolls. They looked like any normal kinds but Neji knew just which ones those were.

This was Tenten's own technique, the Twin Rising Dragon. Tenten smiled thinking she could still pull out a win as the two scrolls rose up into the air making a double helix, they stayed up in the air almost as if hanging on strings. Tenten jumped up as she put chakra into her legs and reached the top. The scrolls were filled with seals that held many weapons she had sealed into them. One by one different weapons would be released and faster than a normal human, Tenten threw out weapon after weapon.

Unfortunately Temari wasn't impressed, she easily blew the weapons and Tenten away with one giant blast from the fan and all the weapons were blown away. Tenten fell as she lost her concentration and she slammed onto Temari's fan right onto her back. Tenten cried out as she went limp and Neji froze in horror. That kind of fall could crippled a person or kill them if her spine broke just right, plus that Suna girl did that on purpose.

She smirked at her own superiority as she just cast Tenten aside, as soon as the Proctor call the match Neji raced to her side. He knelt down as he checked her out, his eyes could see fractures but the spine was intact thankfully. Tenten moaned in pain, her body hurt and she felt numb in some areas.

"Tenten can you hear me?" Neji said gently to her.

"Neji?" Tenten asked weakly.

"Lay still you took a bad hit," He said as he stopped her from moving.

"I lost," Tenten said in a defeated tone, she let her team down, she let herself down. She had tried so very hard but she had just been outclassed the entire match. It had been pathetic, what must Neji think of her now? She didn't want to open her eyes to see the look on his face. "I'm sorry…"

"Don't be," he said in a surprisingly gentle tone. "You should be proud, you fought without giving an inch. I'm proud of you."

Tenten's eyes shot open as she looked up at him, she was surprised to see the look on his face and eyes. She could see that he wasn't disappointed in her, in fact he looked worried for her and something else, something she couldn't understand but it made her feel a bit warm inside for some reason. She felt him holding one of her hands and she blushed a bit, she knew that Neji rarely showed his emotions, after all most Hyuga were like that. So for him to show such a simple gesture to her, spoke volumes.

The medics came out yet again with a stretcher and gently placed her in it, being mindful of her neck and back. Neji felt Gai's presence behind him as he watched them load her onto it.

"It was just bad luck that she got that Temari girl for an opponent." Gai said to him and he nodded.

"Give my apologies to Lee will you sensei?" Neji told him not looking at the man. "I want to make sure she's well so I will most likely miss his match."

Gai smiled at the boy before him, "Now there is the true spirit of youth, looking out for your comrade shows the fire burns bright in you my young student. I'm proud to see it!"

Neji sighed as she shut his eyes; he just wished that Gai wouldn't make such a big deal of things. As he walked off silently to ensure that Tenten would be okay he did cast a look and locked eyes with the Suna girl. He gave her a cold look, he made a vow that if he met her in the finals, and he would avenge Tenten's defeat by that girl's hands.

Ino Yamanaka vs Ami

Ino wasn't sure what to expect when she got into the arena with the Mist girl, but after seeing what the girl's teammate had done to Kiba she wasn't taking any chances.

"So this is my opponent, some frail looking girl playing ninja?" Ami smirked at the shorter girl in front of her.

"What did you say!?" Ino yelled out. "I'll have you know I come from a long line of ninja!"

"Your ancestors must weep themselves to sleep every day then," Ami said in a deadpan expression.

Ino had a facial tick at that point, there was no way she was going to let this dark haired girl say things like that. Although she too was wearing bandages hers looked strangely different to Ino. She couldn't place it but whatever it was she was sure it wouldn't be much.

"Fine then, here I come!" Ino yelled out as she threw two kunai, Ami pulled out two and deflected them with two of her own.

The two started with using taijutsu against each other, Ino was about average with it but the other girl trained a lot harder than Ino did. Soon the blonde girl had to keep her distance from the other girl's attacks.

Ino knew that she had no genjutsu, and her only ninjutsu besides the academy stuff, was her family jutsus. If only she could use them but there was a major problem with that, Ino had to get her to stand still, in order to use her mind jutsus. It was the main weakness in them, plus the other major one being that if she missed, her body would be defenceless. Given what that guy had tried to do with Kiba she didn't feel like getting killed while knocked out.

"Ami, stop playing around." Gendo called out.

"I was just starting to have some fun too," Ami pouted a bit. She unwrapped the bandages on her arms and Ino was left wondering what was going on, that is until they shot out at her. Ino dodged them but felt a sharp pain on the side of her face. She reached up and felt blood as her eyes widened.

"My bandages are special, they have thin wires woven into them turning them into both armour and weapons." Ami grinned as she pushed out her hands as many different strands fly out at Ino. Ino tried to dodge but there were just too many, and she didn't have enough speed to help herself out. Cut after cut was forming on her body, nothing fatal but Ino had a feeling the other girl was enjoying it.

Sakura's hands tightened on the rail watching the girl that was her best friend being cut to pieces. Ino was like the sister she never had, but to see her like this all bloody made her surprisingly angry. She wanted to jump down there and stop it but it would disqualify Ino and possibly herself, but she was prepared to do it anyway and damn the consequences.

"Asuma won't let it go too far," Kakashi said not even looking at her almost as if he was reading her mind. "We jonin wouldn't let our students die unnecessarily. We put you all into harms way to prepare you for your life as a ninja, but we are always try to ensure that it's not something you can't handle."

Ino was starting to feel weak, she could feel the stinging cuts all over her body, and the warm fluid of her own blood. She couldn't last much longer at this rate, she was losing too much blood.

"I think it's time to finish this, I've had my fun." Ami smirked as her bandages shot out and managed to grab Ino's arms and legs. She cried out as the material started to cut into her arms.

"Well that's it." Shikamaru sighed. "She can't get out and she can't quit. That girl is going to cut her limbs off." He looked to their sensei and he sighed and nodded.

"I agree," Asuma said. He had hoped that Ino would have done better, but this Mist girl was just too much for her. "Proctor, as sensei for Ino, I call my right to forfeit in her place."

"Very well then," the Proctor said. "The winner of this match is Ami, you can let the girl got now before I kick you out."

Ami sneered as she let the blond girl fall to the ground. Asuma and Sakura were the first to run towards the girl. Sakura hadn't seen so much blood in a very long time, to make it worse it was all Ino's. "Will she make it?" She asked the medics that ran out to her.

"She's lost a lot of blood," one of them said putting in a blood pill into Ino's mouth. It would help restore her blood loss for a bit but she would need a transfusions. "If we hurry she shouldn't be too bad."

Sakura sighed as she watched them cover Ino's wounds and wrap her up. Only to leave Ino's blood staining the floor. Sakura glared angrily at the Mist girl as she just walked off like it was nothing.

Gaara vs Akuma

The Mist ninja stared at the younger boy, although for some reason he was getting an uneasy feeling about him. There was just something about the boy, the eyes were those of a killer that he was sure of. But his body language told him that he didn't care one way or another about this fight. He was a strange one but he decided to test out this boy's abilities first. As soon as the match started he threw out several kunai to see what the boy would do, he was surprised to see a wall of sand suddenly show up out of nowhere and stop them.

The boy hadn't even moved a muscle, to have that kind of control over something without moving was already telling the Mist ninja much.

"Well then, let's if you can hit what you can't see," Akuma smirked as he started to make hand seals. As soon as he had finished the arena floor was being covered in mist.

"Hey I remember that!" Naruto yelled out.

"Yes, it's a move that comes from the Mist village after all," Kakashi said as he watched them. "This should be interesting to see how this plays out."

Akuma knew that the boy wouldn't be able to see him coming, he practiced being a silent killer and now he was putting it to use. He quickly and quietly ran up to the boy ready to strike, but still the sand was blocking him. Every blow he threw, somehow the other boy was able to get the sand back up. It didn't make sense, the Suna boy shouldn't have been able to see him, he was sure the other boy couldn't smell or hear him so how was did he do it?

As the mist started to fade Akuma looked hard at the other boy and then he noticed something.

"Looks like you'll be slowing down some," Akuma said seeing his sand. "Sand isn't a good thing to mix with the water that's in the air from my mist fog. So let's see what happens if we use a lot more water."

Akuma went through the seals and called up a water dragon missile, the large dragon was formed out of the water that was still in the area. A true master of this could use the condensation in the air to form it but there were still plenty of water molecules left over to use as well. The giant dragon shot out at Gaara as his sand went to protect him out of instinct.

"There, let's see you use your sand when it's nothing but mud," Akuma ran forward not letting Gaara take a breather. Already he could see the sand had been turned into mud from the water it absorbed.

Gaara had been taken by surprise, there was little water in the desert and the mud, although he could feel it, was heavy and sluggish. He couldn't move it fast enough to stop the boy from landing a punch at his face. The Mist ninja didn't stop as he continued to pummel on Gaara. He kept trying to move the sand but it was useless while wet. He called forth fresh sand from his gourd and went on the offensive against the Mist ninja.

"So that's what's in there, then I guess I'll have to do better than that." He grinned at Gaara. He went into more hand seals. "Water canon jutsu!"

With that he opened his mouth as a stream of water shoot out at Gaara, when he was soaked Akuma went in for the kill. He pulled out a kunai and with a slash went for Gaara's neck. There was silence for a moment as a line was shown on Gaara's neck but no blood. Everyone was confused as to how he wasn't bleeding. Then sand started to seep out of the wound as it closed up.

"The hell, you have sand inside your body or something!?" Akuma asked out loud.

"Hey is that even possible?" Naruto asked his father.

Kakashi thought about it, "Somehow I doubt it. Look at the skin where he was punched, there is no bruising yet. My best guess is that he's got another layer of sand that is covering his skin like a second line of defence. I have to admit this genin has one of the most impressive defences I've even seen."

"So he's going to lose?" Naruto asked.

"I'm not sure, it depends on if he can get on the offensive."

Akuma was getting frustrated now, just how much water did he have to dunk on this red headed boy to get past that damn sand? Well at any rate it didn't matter, if he had to drain his chakra and pour a lake onto him he would do it.

Meanwhile Gaara had his own plan, ever since the first time his sand was wet he had been slowly leaking his sand under the arena. Sand could be made from a lot of things, including crushed rock. When he realised that his sand had a weakness to water he came up with a plan. Slowly his sand had been crushing the rock under their feet to create a large amount of sand under them. He couldn't wait to see his enemy's blood. This one was proving more challenging than most but he was still nothing to him.

Asuma made it only a few steps back before the ground under him fell apart and sand came up from the ground to surround his body.

Gaara grinned manically at the ninja as the sand stared to envelop him. "You weren't too bad, Mother now wants your blood."

"What the hell are you, some kind of bloodline freak like most of the ninja in this weak village?" Akuma said as she struggled to get out. That kind of control over sand wasn't natural, he knew what the boy had done but to take all those hits, fight and still do this was insane.

"No, I'm something worse," Gaara told him as he raised a hand. "Sand Coffin."

The sand completely covered the Mist ninja now, Gaara then closed his fist as he said 'Sand Burial' and the sand contracted. The ninja was instantly crushed by the pressure of the sand. Blood stained it as more blood was literally squished out of the sand like toothpaste. The arena floor was covered in blood now. The sand receded and what was left of the ninja couldn't even be called a human corpse anymore.

The sickening display made many uncomfortable, only the hardened adult ninjas could really stand the sight. Although the two surviving Mist ninja didn't look pleased as all, they looked at Gaara with naked hatred at the death of their teammate but didn't say or do anything.

Gaara took his sand back into the gourd on his back as he calmly walked up the stairs with a bored look on his face.

"W-What the hell?" Choji asked feeling very sick. It was only luck he hadn't thrown up at what had happened. Hinata had passed out with Kurenai looking over her. The others were just as unnerved. Sasuke knew a strong opponent when he saw one, but he also noticed the Gaara and the Mist ninja wouldn't hesitate to kill. He remembered his own first time killing, had he really been like that? Looking back on the incident he knew now why Kakashi had taken him aside for that talk. Looking at those three he could see the kind of people you became when killing was nothing to you.

Sakura was next to him barely able to stand, her legs felt week and watching the medics take away the remains wasn't pleasant. It was another cold reminder of the life she chose for herself, that one day she or someone she knew could end up just like that.

Kankuro vs Rock Lee

"Yes finally!" Lee shouted out with joy. All this time he had wanted to join in and fight and finally he was getting his chance. "I've been waiting so very long to show the world the burning flames of my youth!"

"That's right Lee, show them all the power of youth!" Gai said to him.

"Gai sensei!"

"Lee!"

"Gai sensei!"

"Lee!"

"Hey, we doing this or not?" Kankuro yelled out as he waited for the strange green glad boy to get down to the arena. Where all the ninja in his village freaks or something? At any rate by the time the kid had reached the arena he was already getting bored.

Lee was totally prepared for a fight, he got into his usual stance as he waited to begin. As soon as the match started he ran towards his opponent, he sent a flying kick to Kankuro's stomach, followed by a barrage of punches. A normal human would have been hurt by such blows but something was wrong, the older Suna boy was still standing.

Lee stood there unable to see how the boy had just shrugged off his attacks like they were nothing.

"Is that all you got, man you're weak." Kankuro laughed at him.

"I do not know how you were able to take those blows but there is only one thing that I can do. I have to hit even harder and faster than before!" Lee shouted out as he became even faster and the blows were shattering. In fact they did shatter a part of Kankuro's face right off leaving a brown wooden thing under it.

"Damn, didn't know you could hit that hard." Kankuro said as the object that was wrapped up on his back suddenly unwrapped itself. It was then that the real Kankuro came out and the one that Lee had been fighting shed its disguise. Kankuro hadn't expected the boy to start damaging his puppet like that, if the fight continued as it did, then he would have lost as his puppet couldn't use many of its special techniques while it was disguised.

So it was time to take the fight to the next level and he was just fine with that as he unleashed his favorite puppet to date.

The puppet was called, Karasu. It had three eyes, four arms with a tattered cloak. Kankuro with his hands sent his best puppet after Lee. He was surprised by the speed the other kid was moving at, but his puppet had surprises of its own. The arms suddenly shot out to try and trap Lee in their grasp, but he was very agile. He jumped into a handstand and pushed off and as soon as he landed jumped again.

"Damn it, stand still!" Kankuro was trying to keep up but the green kid was fast. "To hell with it then."

Karasu's mouth opened up as black smoke came out at Lee. The smoke quickly covered the distance but Lee didn't let it touch him, he did a powerful jump off the ground and actually sailed over the smoke. But Kankuro was prepared, he had Karasu's mouth open and deadly needles covered in toxins flew at Lee. Most of them missed but Kankuro smiled as a few hit the boy in the leg warmers.

"Good that should slow you down." Kankuro yelled out happily to see Lee finally come to a rest on top of the giant stone hands. But something was wrong the boy wasn't going down at all. "What the hell, you should have dropped by now, there is now way you can withstand the toxins I put onto those."

Gai was proud of his student, he only had his taijutsu but he used it to its fullest. Although he was confident that Lee wouldn't have to go all out, if he kept fighting like this he would be taken out of the competition. Perhaps it was time to show them the full power of Lee's youthful flames.

"Lee, I think it's time to take them off." Gai told him.

Lee was surprised that his teacher would say that. "But Gai-sensei, you told me to only to do that as a last resort."

"I know but there are exceptions and this is one of those times. So take them off and show the world the power of youth and hard work!" Gai gave him the thumbs up.

Lee smiled brightly at this he could finally go all out. He pulled down the leg warmers, being mindful of taking off the needles. He took off the leg weights and he could already feel light as a feather now. Now Kankuro knew why the darts didn't affect him, they had hit those damn weights. Well he was just going to have to make sure his aim was better next time.

"Man I wonder how much he's put on since the last time we sparred?" Naruto thought as Lee let them go. When they hit the floor they hit the force of two small bombs, the entire place literally shook.

"What the hell!?" Naruto yelled out at the insane amount of weight that Lee was using.

Kakashi sighed, now thanks to Gai he had a feeling that Naruto and Sasuke would want their weights increased until they could reach that level. He would have to 'thank' Gai properly later for that.

Lee suddenly disappeared in a green blur as he moved faster than most eyes would track. He was certainly faster than Kankuro could track. He tried the smoke again but Lee just blew right through it like the wind. He gritted his teeth as he tried to track Lee's movements, he had his puppet send the arms everywhere he could and fire the toxin darts out of the mouth. He was hoping for a lucky shoot to at least slow the boy down.

It didn't work.

Lee suddenly appeared right in front of Kankuro and in a low stance. Kankuro knew this was the worst thing for a puppet user, the biggest weakness was that if an opponent could get past the puppet, then the user was totally defenceless. He tried to get away and get his puppet to attack Lee from behind but it was too late.

Lee gave a solid kick to Kankuro's chin sending him flying up into the air. Lee jumped up and gave another kick to the small of the back and somehow, he twisted in midair and slammed his leg into the boy's chest. Kankuro rocketed to the ground and slammed hard into the floor. Lee stood ready for more but it looked like Kankuro wasn't going to get up anytime soon after that combo.

"The winner of the final round, is Rock Lee." The Proctor proclaimed. "Finally we can start into the third part of the exam."

Next up chapter 53: Preparations