Chapter 58 - Chuunin Exams Second Phase [5] (1/2)

Lee looked calmly towards Gaara, that was just standing there motionlessly while looking towards the green-clothed youngster in a cold manner, then, Hayate said ''Begin!''

Without further warning, Lee ran towards Gaara, that was still there, one of Lee's hands were on his back while the other was raised right in front of him, then, he sent a barrage of punches, that was effortlessly blocked by Gaara's sand.

''What? He's blocking Lee attacks so easily?'' Sakura was shocked, she had fought against Lee once in one of the many times Team Kakashi and Team Gai trained together, thus, she knew that even his regular punches weren't something that could be so easily blocked.

Temari, at the side, smirked while feeling a little proud, despite Gaara disregarding their blood relationship, both her and Kankuro still think of him as their dear brother ''That's Gaara's Sand, it moves automatically to defend him, almost like it is intelligent.''

'Interesting, I wonder if pure speed is able to ignore it? It needs to be fast enough to defend, without the weights, would he be able to pass through that defense? Finally, an interesting fight!' Naruto thought as unknowingly, a small smile appeared on his face, those who knew him well were speechless because they knew that smile was an excited, sadistic and curious one.

Frowning after seeing all of his attacks being blocked, Lee took out his Kunai, that spun lightly under the movements of his fingers before cutting the Sand coming towards him.

'It seems I'll need to increase my speed!' Lee thought before his speed suddenly increased, his figure blurred slightly as the Sand also increased its reaction, doing all it could to defend, Gaara narrowed his cold eyes slightly before deciding to attack too.

His hand moved and so did the Sand, that followed Lee everywhere, the green-clothed frowned once again before looking over his Sensei, that smirked, a sign of confirmation, flipping a few times before standing in a strange structure, Lee removed two weights from his legs before saying ''Ah! I feel free, so comfortable!''

Though his way of saying it was slightly strange and doubtful, the weights started to fall down under everyone's stare, Temari snorted ''Does he really think this will help him bypass Gaara's defense? A-AH!'' she said before gasping in shock after seeing the huge sound produced by the contact of the weight with the ground.

'He'll be defeated.' Naruto thought, his mind was imagining all of the fight possibilities 'The abilities Gaara showed so far, even if his defense is broken, I can feel it, he's just playing with Lee, even if Lee manages to somehow break his own limits, he'll lose.'

The blonde teenager was extremely sure of the fight and how it would turn out, Naruto is sure that Lee would use the Eight Gates but will end up losing, sighing, he said before going to sleep ''Nii-san, when this fight ends, wake me up. Lee will lose.''

Kakashi nodded under the shocked stares of Gai, Sasuke, Sakura, Haku, Neji and Tenten, the Bushy Brows-sensei frowned slightly ''Aren't you underestimating Lee too much, Naruto?'' he said.

Naruto, that was almost sleeping, said ''No, I've fought Lee recently and I know his limits, Gaara is just playing around with him, I've already thought of all possibilities, even the possibility of Lee breaking his own limits, if that happens, both will be seriously injured but Gaara has a natural advantage, he would still be able to manipulate his sand and wouldn't hesitate to kill Lee.'' his speech was long but it made sense.

Then, Naruto made a request that shocked Kakashi ''If that comes to happen, Lee won't give up even though I warned him, so, Bushy Brows, as soon as you see that he's unable to fight while Gaara is still able to fight, don't hesitate to remove him from the field.''

'Naruto is asking Gai to save Lee in case something happens? That's... impressive and surprising of him.' Kakashi thought, he's the one that knows his brother the best, just the fact he asked this was a sign that Lee is considered his friend.

Despite feeling that Naruto is underestimating Lee, Gai agreed, after that, the blue-eyed teenager slept. [1]