Friend or Foe?! - 5

Sasuke had decided to bide his time, analyzing his foe's weaknesses as he built up more and more chakra, 'So he can open chakra gates. I've heard of something like this but I've never actually seen it…'

Gai seized the opportunity to boast to his eternal rival, "Lee is able to open Five of the Eight Chakra gates, Kakashi. I would advise you be prepared to pull Sasuke from this match should things become too dangerous…"

Kakashi turned his head slightly, "Hm…I suppose. But you do know that saying Gai, to never count your chickens until they've hatched?"

"Are you comparing my student to poultry, Kakashi? I challenge you to a contest of honor!"

"Sure, Gai, later…" Kakashi waved him off, looking back to the fight.

Lee's speed was phenomenal with his surplus of chakra and he was landing merciless blows on Sasuke, left and right, many of which the prodigy could not defend against. Sasuke managed to exert some of his own chakra to lessen the blows and counter, but the pain was distracting at a time when focus was everything.

"Fourth Gate: open!" Lee's chakra had caused a small gale to form, and he had wasted no time in preparing for the Fifth Gate and the Hidden Lotus. He had hit Sasuke hard enough to send him skyward again, but was cut short in his attack by a pain shooting up his spine. A dizzying moment later, they were descending, and Sasuke was jabbing him with electrical strikes that were intended to paralyze.

Lee recognized the assault, 'In his preliminary match that Cloud ninja was able to stun him in this way! I should have-!'

He leapt away, finding it hard to slow down with the enormous momentum he had built up. The earth beneath Lee's feet had been softened from Haku's rainstorm, and it disintegrated at the presence of his tremendous energy.

Sasuke had taken a spot high up on the wall as Tenten had, Lee noted, and was also regrouping. He no longer intended to fall prey to any of Lee's Lotus attacks. After a few short hand signs, Sasuke gripped his left arm as chakra crackled to life noisily.

"That's what Sato used in his preliminary match and Kakashi-sensei too…" Sakura muttered to Kiba beside her, "Sasuke-kun learned it?"

"Looks like it," Kiba narrowed his eyes, "But he's stronger than Sato, so this time it should turn out like it's supposed to!"

From his place on the balcony Sato took a picture, evaluating Sasuke's form, 'Looks like Kakashi taught him too…bet Sasuke didn't have to beg though! Kakashi likes his own students more than he likes me!' A small frown flickered over the boy's face, 'I'm not jealous! I'm not! He's never liked me anyway so what do I care if he plays favorites, that selfish bastard!'

Sato didn't admit it, but his relationship with his remaining kin was not a good one.

Lee watched pensively as the Uchiha prodigy prepared his finishing move, 'I have come so far to become strong and do my best as a ninja but he is indeed a match for me! If I am to succeed in this fight I must surpass my limits…for Gai-sensei, for Tenten, and for Neji! To prove to them that my ninja way is the path of a true shinobi!'

Lee steadied himself, preparing to open the Fifth gate. He had only attempted it once before and he knew that it was a gamble to use it during the first match. Gai had never expressly told him not to and he believed that Gai would step in if he felt it was unnecessary. Near his center, chakra surged through the newly opened gate, fueling his muscles. Sweat evaporated off of him as radiant steam and the rapid circulation of blood made his skin appear red.

Sasuke was careening down the wall, smashing concrete with screaming chakra in his hand. Lee focused and then charged at his opponent.

By then both Gai and Kakashi were compelled to intervene, but knew that doing so may get someone inadvertently killed. They made no move to stop their respective students.

The cheering had slowed once Sasuke had reconnected with the ground, making a bee-line for Lee as he built up chakra, at a speed barely perceptible to the human eye.

"No way!" Naruto watched in awe alongside his silently astonished teammates.

In a fraction of a second, Lee met Sasuke's jab with a counter, surrounded by a corona of turbulent energy. The light from the resulting collision made the proceedings difficult to distinguish even by carefully observing ANBU. Lee had built enough speed to partially avoid Sasuke's initial strike, but the Chidori raked up along his arm mercilessly, leaving open, burning lacerations in its wake.

Refusing to be stopped by the terrible pain, Lee offered up his wounded arm to block, and after pinning Sasuke's flailing free arm, knocked him back with a flying kick so powerful it sent him careening to the opposite side of the arena with a violent explosion of dust and mud, "Reverse Lotus!"

Lee fell back with the speed of an earth-bound meteor and met the ground in a similar fashion. Silence had unexpectedly taken over the audience while dust hovered in the air, making it impossible to determine who was still left standing.

Hayate cautiously neared the center of the arena, and nearly lost his footing in a massive ditch that had been carved into the earth. Beyond him he could see a form face-down in the baking mud, vainly struggling to stand, and then became still with exhaustion.

'Looks like Lee's had it…' He turned to see Sasuke across the way, also falling unconscious after suffering such a massive blow, 'They were both lucky to avoid the worst the other had to offer!'

After a very long moment, Hayate cleared his throat as the dust cleared, "Both opponents are unable to continue, so this match has been declared a draw."

A ferocious tumult of cheers and cries of disdain followed thereafter, and medics rushed back out into the arena, looking horribly overwhelmed after witnessing the damage.

Both Gai and Kakashi were too stunned to say anything after seeing the power displayed.

Even though it had a horrendous outcome, Tenten didn't fight the swell of pride in her chest after seeing how Lee had kept up with Sasuke. She jumped down to the ground level, intending to wake Lee up and congratulate him on a fabulous draw, though he would be none too pleased to hear about it.

Kiba studied Sakura's astounded face for a long moment as Akamaru tried to snap her out of her unblinking stare. Certainly she was frightened, he could tell that much, but there was something else in her expression that he did not fully recognize. He'd venture a guess it was something close to inspiration.

Gaara had decided it was a match not worth complaining about.

Naruto was ranting to a gaping Haku beside him as they watched Lee and Sasuke be escorted out of the arena, "Holy shit! What was that? Did you see that, Haku-kun? Ha! I bet I looked just as cool in my own match!"

At about the same time, Gai had also gathered enough wit to rave about the fight, "What a glorious spectacle of burning youth! My student utilized the Fifth Gate all in the effort of countering the Chidori! A marvelous feat, is it not Kakashi?"

Kakashi blinked over to him stupidly, "Hm? Did you say something Gai?"

From the opposite side of the stadium Temari turned to her brother, quite unnerved, "Looks like you're next, Kankuro. Don't take too long. Baki said we'd be mobilizing before the end of the first round matches."

He gave her a suspicious sideways glance, "Did he tell you anything else?"

"What? Well…no, he didn't exactly have an itinerary planned yesterday." She frowned at the thought, "In fact, he hasn't really explained anything in so far as we hold off the Leaf ninja." Temari faced her brother, "What does that mean?"

"It means we've been denied information," Kankuro folded his arms, troubled, "I think more than just an invasion is going on here and I can't help but think we shouldn't get involved."

"And how do we do that?" Temari hissed, upset he was deciding to back out at such a late time, "He won't let us withdraw just because we've seen Gaara. He doesn't even know we've noticed him at all! Kankuro, how are we supposed to fix this? It's too late now! Gaara, he's…" Her eyes lowered, "He's one of them."

"He isn't just one of them!" He snapped, trying to remain calm and failing miserably, "He's one of us! Our brother! Are we going to kill his friends just because we've been ordered to? Are we going to kill all of them including him?"

"No!" She was indignant but frightened, "Of course we wouldn't!"

"Then what do you suggest we do?"

"I…I don't know." Temari admitted in defeat, "It doesn't look like there's anything we can do, Kankuro. I didn't come here expecting to see him. He was supposed to be dead…"

"We can't let this happen," Kankuro was trying to come up with a plan before his match started, "Maybe during the confusion we can get him out of here."

"How?" Temari didn't like the sound of it, "How are we supposed to explain all of this?"

"We can't." He looked down into the arena in annoyance as Hayate announced the next match, "When I get back, we've got to think of something."

She nodded solemnly as he proceeded down to his match, feeling a frog in her throat. Temari knew that there was little they could change when they themselves were unsure of what to expect, 'I can't believe Baki hasn't ordered us to do anything yet…it's like we're leaving all of the work to Sound and Cloud.'

She was also aware that if they did try to spare Gaara from the madness he probably wouldn't have any of it, knowing that they had conspired against his village.

In short, the only way they could make a difference would be if they switched sides and defended the Leaf, 'Which is out of the question!' She looked over to where her baby brother stood beside Naruto and Haku, and she could still feel the dull sting of the spots where the water nin had hit her with senbon, 'I'm sorry, Gaara. I didn't want this for you…'

Kankuro stood near Hayate in the arena, disguising his anxiety with boredom. Hayate looked rather perplexed that another genin had decided to be late. Nearly ten minutes had passed, and there was still no sign of him. It did briefly make Kankuro wonder, 'What was his name again? Dosu? Hm…he's with Sound. Maybe his orders were changed and he couldn't show.'

Hayate could tell from the look on the Hokage's face that he'd rather not waste time, "Kinuta Dosu has failed to appear and has hereby been disqualified. Winner of the match by default is Kankuro."

Kankuro did not miss Gaara's approving smirk from above on the balcony, and he couldn't ignore the twisting feeling in his gut at the sight of his younger brother so unaware of what was about to happen.

He ventured back up to the stands, thinking frantically of what could be done to avoid disaster. By the time Kankuro had reached Temari, Baki had arrived.