Re: Akimichi

With the anger that fueled Gaara from Temari's loss. Gaara was emitting more killing intent than in the Canon, it was so much that it was almost tangible. And as a Jounin who worth his salt, Might Guy detected it and allowed Lee to detached his weights all the way from before the match begin.

"It's time for your turn, you can take them off. I allow it! LET'S GO, LEE!!!"

Guy cheered for Lee with full of spirit, while he at it, his trademark grin never left his face.

"Third match, Rock Lee of the Konoha v.s Gaara of the Sand..."

"...FIGHT!"

As the referee announced the start of the match, Lee's figure was instantly blurred and he was up high running in the ceiling. "LEE! GO!" Guy cheered out loud, meanwhile, Lee suddenly appeared beside Gaara and threw a roundhouse kick on his face. But to Lee's surprise, Gaara's sand was already there to shield him.

'Sand...?' Lee refused to relent, and he keeps throwing a few more punches and kicks onto Gaara which all blocked by his sand.

"Lee, you can do it!" Sakura also cheered when she saw Lee relentless attack, he saved her once, so she felt obligated to at least cheer for him. "But... it seems that it's not effective to fight him in close combat. Why don't he use ninjutsu or genjutsu?"

Hearing her, Guy's expression turned a bit somber. "It's not like he doesn't want to, but Lee can't use both Ninjutsu and Genjutsu. That's why... He spent all of his time on Taijutsu, he worked hard and poured all of his heart toward the only thing in his arsenal, the Taijutsu."

Guy then gave Sakura a thumb up and flashed his trademark grin. "But, even if he only has Taijutsu, he won't lose to anyone!" Sakura stared at Lee on the Arena, her fist clenched hard. "YOU CAN DO IT, LEE! KICK HIS A.S.S!"

On the Arena, Lee finally landed his first clean hit on Gaara's face. And all of the representatives from the hidden sand was shocked.

Chouji who overhears the conversation between Guy and Sakura became interested in Lee, and he watched Lee with eyes full of admiration. He was able to tell that Lee was a genius of hard work and he appreciates hard work more than talent.

"LEE! EXPLODE!" "C'mon Lee, fight!"

More cheering came from both Might Guy and Sakura.

---

-Chouji POV-

Haha, as I thought! Lee was indeed an interesting person.

Judging from his movement alone, I was certain that he trained like no others. It's even more so if what his Jounin sensei, Might guy, said was true. I can't imagine what it was like not to be able to use Genjutsu and Ninjutsu in a world full of shinobi like this. But after seeing Lee, I can be certain that as long as you're willing to work hard then you still can thrive.

But, I also intrigued by Gaara, specifically by his sand. They appear as if they were sentience, having their own will and consciousness. That or Gaara has incredible spatial awareness and chakra control.

Hm?

"Oh, did you see that, Shikamaru? He layered his whole body with sand all this time!" I was excited, that's a thing that I haven't think of. But, that's must be uncomfortable, right?

"No, my eyes are closed." He said that even without bothering to open his eyes. Haish, how lazy can you be? This is an exam!

Forget it, I won't lower myself to get angry at his laziness.

"IT'S NOT OVER!!!"

Ooh, he used that technique again! Um, What was it called again?

"[Omote Renge]!"

That's it! I don't like that technique though. Regardless, it was admirable that his non-chakra enhanced body was able to withstand the backlash of this unpolished technique. Um, I'm saying that because I already thought of several aspects that could improve this technique after I tried it back then.

"Yeah, You're awesome Lee!" That Sakura really got emotional over this fight. I shouldn't get close to her in this exam, lest she hurt my eardrums from her scream alone...

Well, Lee was awesome. But-

"[Sabaku Rō]!"

-He's not careful enough.

An enormous quantity of sand completely envelops Lee from every direction, and it's clear that Gaara intended to encase Lee in it. Lee was not able to dodge in time, I guess the pain held him in place.

"[Sabaku Kyū]!"

Sands completely encased Lee from head to toe forming a sphere-like orb of sand. Maybe this is the end? Perhaps... Only taijutsu was not enough? Can't hard work only really beat talent?

"LEE!" Sakura screamed on top of her lungs, and this time I can't even bother. My focus all poured on the arena, my face was grim, this move could be fatal.

"LEE! DO IT! THE LOTUS BLOOM BLOOM TWICE!"

Hm? What's that even mean?

"[Seimon], Open!"

The sand sphere was cracked before finally blasted open from the inside, I catch a glimpse of a blurry shadow rushed out of the sphere. Could it be...?

My eyes darting around searching for Lee before I finally found him up in the air near the ceiling with Gaara bent over from Lee's punch on his abdomen, his sand armor was cracked on various places. Gaara was blasted downward, but again before he was landed, Lee already down there on the ground.

Now I get a good look at it, his skins turned red and his veins bulged all over his body. I felt a bit familiarity, somehow I felt that I saw this technique before...

"[Shōmon], open!"

His hair raised from the hot air pressure that he emitted from his body, this is crazy! Even from this far, I could tell that his body was beyond its limit!

Lee swung his foot upward and blasted Gaara into the air, and just like before he jumped high and hit Gaara numerous times. Lee was so fast that he appeared as if he was teleporting, Lee continuously strikes Gaara from multiple directions, pummelling him into the air.

"[Tomon], OPEN!"

I scrutinized their exchange and saw that Gaara somehow bound by Lee's bandage. With a strong punch, Gaara was blasted once more into the ground. Lee who was still in the air pull him again via his bounded bandage.

"[Ura Renge]!"

With a slight spun, Lee also maneuvering downward. With his stretched leg, Lee kicked Gaara hard. As they arrived on the ground, the gourd on Gaara's back was turned into sands that cushioned his fall. He stretched his hand toward Lee's direction and commanded his sands to attack him. That was when I realized that Lee already lost consciousness!

"[Sabaku Kyū]!"

Oh no!

My body moved on its own!

Before I realized, I was already in the arena. Using an earth style technique, I shielded Lee and myself from the sands. It was then, I saw a man who looked almost the same as Lee. Perhaps he was his family?

"It's enough..." That man said while he stood in front of us.

"Why? Why did you save him?"

I looked at Gaara and pondered his question, before long, I opened my mouth and answered him. "Lee already a friend of mine, that move of yours could be fatal. And we're here in this stage are not to kill each other."

And I can't help that my body moved on instinct.

"...a friend, huh?" The sands covered Gaara's body as he back on his feet and walked out of the Arena.

"The winner is Gaara of the Suna!" The referee finally announced the result of the fight. The man who looked like Lee turned and bowed toward me, "Thank you... for saving him and for being his friend, my name is Might Guy. I'm his Sensei."

"Don't mind it, Guy-san. Lee is my friend, we barely met once though-"

It was at his moment, we turned our head and saw Lee. He stood on his feet and took a battle stance. "Lee, that's en-"

"Guy-san." I tugged his arm and cut his speech, and Guy-san realized that Lee already lost consciousness. He hugged Lee and cried silently. "You have proved your ninja way, Lee. Now, rest..."

I realized, my conjecture was right.

You can't beat talent with only hard work.

Because...

If you don't believe in yourself, your hard work were all in vain.

That's why you also need conviction.

And I know, Lee has both.

Maybe I can match his amount of hard work, but I can't even fathom how deep his conviction is.

Thank you, Lee. This lesson meant a lot to me.

"The next match is..." The referee announced the fighters for the next match after Lee was carried by the medical-nins and the arena was restored to its former state. I was warned by the examiner to not interfere again, else I will be disqualified. My response? I apologized and just shrugged it off.

The referee called, I lifted my head to see the screen and grimaced after I saw the name displayed on it.

[Haruno Sakura v.s Akimichi Chouji]

My hope for an exciting match was gone just like that.

"Bwahahahaha!" That lazy-ass Shikamaru even laughed at it, oh boy, just why...

And just as I expected, the fight didn't even last for three seconds.

Bah, as if that could be called a fight!

"Sakura-chan!" Naruto screamed from the upper level, let's not talk about that little prankster. I went to the upper level after the fight and saw Shikamaru and Ino still chuckled, which pissed me off.

"Congratulations, Chouji Nii-san!"

Um?

"Ou, Hinata-chan!"

Ever since we were a kid, she always a shy girl. I somehow ended up as a big brother figure for her, me being a m.a.t.u.r.e kid at that time and coupled with my bigger physique helped gave that kind of impression to her.

"Yo, Hinata." "Hinata-chan!"

Yup, even Shikamaru and Ino were close with her. She was as adorable as a girl possibly can. Behind her were Kiba and Shino followed, we greeted each other and talked a bit.

[Nara Shikamaru v.s Inuzuka Kiba]

"Oh, you're my opponent lazy face! Prepare to lose!"

"Shut up, you horny dog. Don't expect me to go easy on you."

Kiba and Shikamaru exchanged banter for a while, I don't know why Shikamaru called Kiba horny dog. My intuition said that there's a story behind it, which I don't want to know.

Their fight was exciting enough, but I already familiar with all of their techniques. The fight after that was exciting enough, it's Shino against a puppeteer called Kankuro from the hidden sand village. My focus was on the puppeteer, his techniques were excellent. It was sad that he can't do much, unfortunately for him, Shino was his exact counter.

That Kankuro utilized poison, Shino was resistant against most poisons because of his clan's technique. Hell, his puppet was even turned into a snack by Shino's bugs. Kankuro was forced to forfeit, he can't fight back with all of his techniques countered.

The fight after was funny, Naruto overwhelms tenten with a sheer number of his clones. Though it takes a dozen minutes before tenten forfeited. The nature called, I went for the toilet for a while.

Everything was fine...

"The winner is Hyuga Neiji!"

Let me rephrase that, everything was fine until that bastard mercilessly pummeled Hinata to the ground.

"Hyuga Neiji..."

Now...

I'm out for blood.