Chapter-32 End of preliminaries

Rock Lee listen to Sasuke, he first looked at Guy sensei then looked at Sasuke, he did not know what to do, everyone in Konoha knows the terror of tailed beast going on rampage. Even the younger generation has heard stories from their parents. So Rock Lee was not confident about facing a tailed beast. He did not doubt a single word Sasuke said, he then asked Sasuke;

ROCK LEE: "Sasuke, what would you do if you have to face Gaara in a battle?"

SASUKE: "If I have to face Gaara then first I will use five element seal on him. My fuinjutsu is at decent level, I will seal the Tanuki (one tailed beast) chakra with five element seal. Gaara won't be able to use Tanuki's chakra neither the Tanuki able to take over Gaara to go on rampage, next I will beat up Gaara and win the fight."

ROCK LEE: "Guy sensei, I don't know any fuinjutsu, what should I do?"

GUY: "Don't get discouraged Lee, tell me Sasuke what suggestion do you have for Lee?"

SASUKE: "A ninja must know when to retreat. If you really want to defeat him then go all out from the start, do not hold back. Once the tailed beast take over you should retreat, I am sure in presence of Hokage and all these Jonin, they will be able to take control of situation. There is a possibility of casualty, mainly genins present here but it cannot be blame on you, it is Hokage's duty to make sure such things does not happen. If they are not capable then they should not have let Gaara participate in the chunin exam. Your other option is to forfeit but you should at least fight him to get experience. Do not open more than three gates, if you feel you cannot defeat him with three gates then forfeit."

ROCK LEE: "Why three gates?"

SASUKE: "It should be your next target, your body should be strong enough to defeat one tailed beast with only three gates open. You are my rival, if you are not that strong, how are you going to compete with me in future?"

Rock Lee nodded, Guy gave Lee his blessing and Lee stepped into the arena. He already removed all his weights and was ready for proctor to say start. He was going to open third gate from the start of the fight. Sasuke and Lee had their discussion away from the ring so not many people heard them. Guy was with them while Kakashi, Asuma and Kurenai were at some distance but they also eavesdrop at the conversation. They knew about Gaara being a jinchuriki but they had no idea about the kind of seal used or the insomnia problem of Gaara. It was a tricky situation, Gaara was son of Kazekage of sand village, and sand village was ally of Konoha so it was not easy to stop Gaara from participating in the chunin exam. On other hand, if tailed beast of sand attack leaf, it will lead to war. They were concerned about safety of their genin teams. They went back and stood with their teams and ready to protect them if something happens.

The moment proctor said start, Lee opened the third gate and attack Gaara without holding back. Lee's speed was not something that Gaara was able to keep up. His sand barrier and sand armour was failing him. He was thrown around the arena like a ragdoll, he did not even hit the ground after first hit when he was landed with second hit by Lee. Both his sand armor and gourd was destroyed. Baki, Temari and Kankuro were shocked, they were afraid that Gaara would lose control and release the beast here. It would ruin their Konoha crush plan.

Gaara used his sand to form a thick spherical sand barrier around him. Lee was reaching his limit, he did not have any piercing jutsu like chidori to break open the sand barrier. He strike the barrier with full force but he was not able to break it. He realize that he needed to open at least five gate to break the barrier. Lee looked where Guy and Sasuke were standing, both of nodded at Lee and Lee forfeited the match. Hatake Gekko came forward and announced Gaara as winner.

Gaara was not happy about this, his desire to kill Lee was at all time high. He called Lee a coward and provoked him to come back and fight. Baki come down and took Gaara with him. Last fight was between Choji and Dosu of sound village. Fight ended with Choji's defeat and the 10 participants were selected for final round of chunin exam.

Hokage came forward and make some announcement and revealed that final phase will happen one month later. Opponent for final round were selected. First match is between Naruto and Neji, second between Saske and Gaara, third between Kankuro and shino, fourth between Temari and Shikamaru, and finally Sakura and Dosu.

Preliminaries were concluded and everyone dispersed. Sasuke took Karin to Uchiha compound, he told her that they will visit Hokage office next day. He also informed Naruto to come along with them. Kakashi wanted to discuss few things about training for final round, but Sasuke told him they were physically and mentally exhausted, they will talk about it next day. Kakashi was wondering, why they are so much tired, team-7 completed the second phase on the first day of test, so they basically rested for next four days. And it took Sasuke less than 5 seconds to defeat his opponent in preliminary round, Naruto also dominated his fight, it did not take him much effort to win his fight. Sakura also had upper hand in her fight, it took her some effort but it was not a difficult fight.

Kakashi asked them about Karin to which Sasuke replied they will answer tomorrow in Hokage's office. Sometimes Kakashi wonders if he really is the leader and jonin sensei of his team. Sasuke always lead the team and never asked his opinion, he also trained the other two and was actually really good at it. Kakashi was a lazy guy so he wasn't complaining.