85 Lee vs Gaara

As Hinata left the fighting area unconscious, everyone's looks towards her had changed from pity to respect and amazement, in their eyes, Hinata had always been a frail girl sheltered and that needed people around her to protect her. But in her last fight, even though she lost she reminded everyone that she was a ninja, a proud ninja from the famous Hyuga clan, when having her back against a wall she finally stopped retreating and showed her resolve to everyone else.

Kayle couldn't help but smile, he had become friends with Hinata while he was still in the academy and even though they didn't spend much time together he knew that she considered him as her best friend, her shyness had made it difficult for her to interact with everyone, but Kayle that already knew about her from the show took the first step and quickly she started opening herself a little more to him.

Kayle: 'She really is someone special, in this world full of slaughter, fighting, and dangers she is one of the purest souls I ever met... being near her is very relaxing as you don't have to overthink what she is thinking about you, she is like an open book for you to read and her good intentions are easily transmitted with her smile'

Naruto that was next to Kayle was both excited and mad, excited because seeing someone giving it their one hundred percent reminded him of himself and his resolve which made his blood boil in return, And mad because even after Neji won he still expressed loudly that this was her fate to be surpassed by him.

Naruto: "You better prepare yourself Neji! I will show you your fate too! I can't wait to beat the crap out of you!"

Neji looked at Naruto with disdain and made him even angrier with only one sentence, Kayle could help but be impressed by how talented was Neji to piss off everyone.

Kayle: "If this world resembled a little more to china rather than japan then Neji would definitely be part of the arrogant young masters club, well now thinking about it he is a stepping stone for Naruto..."

While Kayle was lost in his thoughts, Naruto has sworn in from of everyone to take care of Neji's case personally.

The Next fight started shortly after that, Rock Lee stood in from of Gaara with confidence oozing from his body while Gaara stayed stoic.

As the fight started Lee went on the offensive immediately, but each of his hits was met with a cloud of sand blocking him.

Gaara that stood silently for several minutes finally some his first words.

Gaara: "Is that all you can do? come and distract me... and I'm carving, for blood"

At that exact moment, Gaara finally went on the offensive as he grabbed Lee by his feet using his sand and with a whip-like motion, Lee was sent him flying against one of the wall hitting it before falling to the ground.

Lee regained his spirits quickly and stood up and rolled to the side making him evade a second wave of sand coming his way, After barely avoiding his enemy's second attack, Lee used the timing he found to rush once more at his opponent and started attacking him under different angle trying to find a hole in his opponent defense.

Unfortunately for him, each of his fists was met with a wave of sand, and his kicks only met the same fate.

Seeing his student getting pushed back, again and again, Gaï finally allowed Lee to remove the weights that have been holding him back till now, everyone's disdain looks seeing him throwing two pouches of weight transformed into a pure horror look once the weights touched the ground and shook the whole arena.

The now liberated lee finally went on the offending once more surprising everyone with his speed, his attacks became ruthless and unpredictable pushing Gaara back, Lee's current speed was higher than Gaara's reaction time which finally broke his defense, and started taking a few hits from his opponent.

Gaara that that was sent flying after one of Lee's fists stood up slowly as everyone could see he had sand skin peeling from his face, making everyone realize that his defense wasn't broken yet and that Lee's attacks weren't able to injure him yet, his bloodshot eyes that looked calm until now started having a crazy madness deep within them that sends a chills down everyone's spine watching this fight.

After only a few seconds Gaara's sand defense was once more in place, Lee that couldn't believe his opponent's strong defense finally decided to use one of his most powerful attacks, the Front Lotus. Using his speed once more, Lee successfully launched Garra up in the air with a barrage of kicks before warping in his bandage and sending him flying to the ground in a spinning motion.

Unfortunately for him, the Gaara that hit the floor slowly transformed into sand, as the real one emerged behind the now exhausted lee and started attacking him with waves of his sand. Lee that hadn't yet recovered from using the front lotus took several hits getting him weaker and weaker.

Now that lee had finally his back against the wall and couldn't see any possible solution he finally decided to reveal his trump card as he opened the four first gates.

Lee speed received once more a huge power up as now even Kakashi had to use his Sharingan to follow his movements, Garra was once more on the losing side. But Lee was well aware that this wouldn't last as he felt his body tearing up under the huge load of the gate of life opened.

Lee: 'I can win this... I will open the fight gate of limit and give one last blow! '

Kayle: "ENNNNNNNOUGH !"

A loud yell that made every wall shake surprised everyone in the room, even lee that was fully focused on his battle suddenly had his mind went blank as he stopped his movements and slowly fell to the ground.

Everyone's focus went from the fight to the observing area, Kayle stood proudly, his skin was slightly pink while he had a green aura overflowing from him suppressing everyone in the surroundings.

Even the third Hokage had started gathering his chakra due to this powerful aura appearing out of nowhere.

The first one to talk was none other than Gaï.

Gaï: "K-Kayle? you mastered the sixth gate completely ?"

Kayle ignored the question as he started explaining his intentions.

Kayle: "Lee you have to forfeit right now!"

Lee was stunned hearing his friend and sparring partner ordering him to surrender, he had unconsciously closed the four gates he had opened earlier when he heard the yell. but hearing Kayle his fists started clenching due to the unwillingness to surrender.

Lee looked up straight into Kayle's eyes and he could see the deep resolve behind Kayle's look, he knew that his friend wasn't kidding and that he wouldn't back off, Lee was far from being an idiot and he started quickly thinking about Kayle's real intention.

Lee: '...I really don't want to surrender but I've long since reached my limits... I'm body is already heavily injured, I know myself very well and it should take at least a full month of recovery to heal to its peak... and If I opened one more gate... I-I don't know what could happen'

Lee then looked toward Gaara that was laying on the ground under a soft bach of sand while wondering if he could have won he had used his last hit, then he looked back at Kayle that shook his head.

Kayle: "You would have lost, even then"

Kayle was the one that knew Lee the best, he had trained with him quite a long time and he knew that the lee standing in front of him was far stronger than the original one. He knew that this Lee's techniques were miles away from what they should have been as he had helped him refine them with sparing, but sadly there was a limit at how fast a body could grow, and that limit was what was currently holding back this taijutsu genius.

Kayle had simulated this fight in his mind, and even in the best-case scenario, Lee would have still have lost while getting heavily injured. Lee wouldn't have lost as quickly as he was supposed to, his sparing with Kayle had taught him to always stay focus, take better decisions and attack more cleanly. But this fight would last around half an hour more than the original, in which Lee's body would get more and more injured due to the heavy burden of the five opened gates while the terrain around them would be completely destroyed due to the sheer brutality of their confrontation, And if the Arena made of stone was crushed, it would generate more sand for Gaara to use which made it even more unfavorable for Lee to let this fight prologue for a long time. And this was while estimating that Gaara could control his emotions and didn't let the one tail go out of control.

As everyone was silent, Le slowly raised his arm as tears started falling to the ground.

Lee: "I-I give up"