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In the arena, Rock Lee, who had exhausted his stamina after using the Front Lotus, could only adopt a passive defense.
Bracing his arms, he managed to block another sand attack from Gaara but was pushed back several meters.
After stabilizing himself, veins bulged on Lee's forehead as chakra erupted from his body.
"That move—is it the Eight Gates?" Kakashi asked in shock, turning to Gai. "You actually taught him that technique?!"
"That kid is an effort-driven genius!" Gai said proudly, satisfied with his prized disciple.
[Naruto, Sasuke, Neji—how can I fall here without challenging you yet?! The Eight Gates!]
"Third Gate, Gate of Life, OPEN!"
With a loud roar from Lee, chakra surged out of his entire body, stirring the surrounding air and blowing up his bowl-cut hair.
His hair stood on end, his face turned red, and his body emitted a green glow.
"Not enough! This is the moment to uphold my ninja way! Fourth Gate, Gate of Pain, OPEN!"
Even stronger chakra exploded, shattering the stone floor and whipping it up into the air.
"Byakugan!" ×2
"Sharingan!"
Naruto heard the sound of everyone around him "powering up."
Hinata and Neji simultaneously activated their Byakugan, while Sasuke reactivated his Sharingan, which he had turned off earlier when he thought Lee was about to lose.
Naruto nearly cursed aloud. What was this, everyone blatantly showing off their abilities right in front of him? Did they not care about getting banned?
Fine, if they had cheats, so did he!
Inside Naruto's mental space, he looked at Kurama, who was sipping a drink nonchalantly. "Big fox, help me out."
"What kind of jutsu is that?!" Sasuke exclaimed, shocked. He had just seen someone around his age move faster than Naruto at full speed. And when Sasuke tried to copy Lee's movements, he realized he couldn't replicate them.
He understood that Neji's Rotation might be a special ability tied to the Byakugan, but Lee—an ordinary person—had executed moves that Sasuke couldn't perform. This technique Kakashi called the Eight Gates—it was incredible!
Kakashi finally remembered he was supposed to be a teacher and began explaining. "In the human body's chakra circulatory system, there are eight key gates located throughout the body below the head: the Gate of Opening, Gate of Rest, Gate of Life, Gate of Pain, Gate of Limit, Gate of View, Gate of Shock, and Gate of Death."
"These gates naturally limit the flow of chakra within the body. However, the Eight Gates technique forcibly removes these limits, releasing power dozens of times greater than normal."
"When all eight gates are opened, one can achieve strength surpassing even the Hokage for a short time—but the user will die."
Naruto snorted. Hokage? That old man Hiruzen would get flattened by someone with all eight gates open in a single kick.
Naruto had seen Might Guy use all eight gates in the anime before. It was a power that transcended human limits, one of the strongest attacks in Naruto. Too bad his opponent wasn't human.
Sasuke was initially intrigued by the idea of surpassing Kage-level strength without losing his mind, unlike the Cursed Seal Orochimaru gave him. But upon hearing that opening all eight gates meant certain death, he hesitated.
Sasuke wanted to kill Itachi, but he also wanted to restore the Uchiha clan. Even though he didn't fully understand how to rebuild a great clan yet, he knew that dying alongside Itachi would mean the end of the Uchiha name entirely.
In the arena, Lee was unleashing an all-out assault on Gaara. Gaara's Sand Armor had already been stripped away.
Most people got beaten into the ground like Naruto had been when facing Orochimaru. But Gaara, true to his title as the "Sandstorm," was being treated like a punching bag, hanging in the air as Lee pummeled him relentlessly.
Lee had clearly mastered Newton's Third Law of Motion, using walls and the ground to propel himself further.
There were no more physics-defying mid-air kicks or jumps, as Lee now relied on proper momentum. Though such actions were considered normal in the Naruto world, Naruto still found them hard to accept.
"Naruto-kun," a small voice called out to the distracted Naruto.
"Hmm?"
"His muscles… they've torn…" Hinata, with her Byakugan active, informed Naruto that Lee's internal muscles were beginning to tear, and his bones were developing tiny fractures under the strain.
Lee was moving too fast for Naruto's eyes to track clearly—he could only see blurry black streaks—but that didn't stop Naruto from planning to save Lee.
The challenges Naruto faced in rescuing Lee were:
1. He couldn't reveal the Nine-Tails' chakra, as it would lead to investigations.
2. He couldn't interrupt Lee's fight, as doing so would undermine Lee's determination to uphold his ninja way.
Thus, Naruto decided to target Gaara instead.
"Fifth Gate, Gate of Closing, OPEN!"
With the fifth gate unlocked, Lee grabbed Gaara by his belt and pulled him close.
"Reverse Lotus!"
Lee unleashed a flurry of strikes targeting Gaara's abdomen.
Gaara let out a scream of agony as if he were in labor, crashing to the ground with a thunderous explosion of dust.
Temari felt her heart shatter. She had been effortlessly defeated by some lazy guy from Konoha, and now her supposedly strongest brother was being beaten senseless by a random bowl-cut-wearing weirdo?
[Will this plan really succeed?]
"Naruto-kun, Lee's bones… they're broken…" Hinata continued narrating the situation to Naruto.
As the dust settled, Gaara lay amidst the sand. Before hitting the ground, he had transformed his gourd into sand to cushion his fall and reduce the damage.
Extending his hand, Gaara shaped the sand into a claw-like form, reaching toward Lee.
At this point, Lee's muscles and bones were fractured in multiple places, leaving him unable to stand. All he could do was watch as the sand began to envelop him.
Gai wrestled with himself internally, unsure whether to intervene and save Lee.
Gaara clenched his hand tightly and coldly declared:
"Sand Binding…"
"Hic…"
A sudden sound interrupted Gaara's final word.
Inside Gaara's seal, Shukaku opened its eyes. That sound—it came from a fox!
Before Shukaku could respond, however, it received the following feedback:
"The Nine-Tails refuses to receive your message."
"What was that hiccup just now??" Gaara muttered to himself inside his seal.
Shukaku ignored him and went back to sleep.
Meanwhile, in Naruto's mindscape, Naruto was smirking at Kurama.
Kurama, on the other hand, turned his head away, his face unusually bashful.
It was mortifying—getting interrupted by a hiccup before saying anything meaningful. How embarrassing for a fox.
Back in reality, just as it seemed Lee was about to be crushed, Gai finally moved. His speed was so fast that even Sasuke's Sharingan couldn't follow. In an instant, the sand surrounding Lee was dispersed.
The timing was perfect.
This was Naruto's plan—to use the unique communication method between tailed beasts and Jinchūriki to interrupt Gaara.
In the original story, Gyūki and Kurama had communicated this way. No one else present except the Jinchūriki and tailed beasts could hear it.
Naruto wasn't worried about exposure either. Only Shukaku and Gaara knew what happened, and given their strained relationship, would Shukaku ever tell Gaara?
Unless Gaara was about to die and Shukaku stepped in to stop him, Shukaku probably wouldn't say a word to Gaara for the rest of his life. Even in the original storyline, when Gaara was captured by Deidara, Shukaku completely ignored him. Their terrible relationship spoke volumes.
As for whether Gaara could guess who caused the hiccup, Naruto wasn't concerned. Billions of fans watching Naruto hadn't figured out tailed beasts could communicate like this before Gyūki and Kurama did. Could Gaara match the deductive skills of millions? Laughable.
And even if someone like Shikamaru tried to deduce it from the hiccup alone, it wouldn't work.
Lee, whose body was overwhelmed from overexertion and blood flow restriction due to the sand pressure, had already passed out. Yet, somehow, his body remained standing.
Gaara stared at Gai, who now stood protectively in front of Lee. Memories of someone similarly shielding him in his childhood surfaced, causing him excruciating headaches.
"The winner—Gaara," announced Hayate Gekkō.
With Gai's intervention, even if Lee woke up again, the match would not continue.
Gaara reshaped the sand into a gourd, slung it onto his back, and silently walked away.
He was lost in thought. He recalled someone once standing in front of him to protect him—and then… had that person been killed by him?
And that hiccup—what was it? Was it an auditory hallucination? But he had clearly heard it.
Medical ninjas examined Lee's injuries and carried him away. Unlike in the original story, where his bones were shattered, this time only his muscles and bones were fractured—a condition the Konoha Hospital could treat.
If Lee ever learned that his life had been saved by a burp, who knows what he'd think.
As for the culprit behind the burp, he had already fallen asleep. Kurama planned to hibernate for a month to alleviate the embarrassment.
While everyone else was stunned by Lee and Gaara's battle, and Sasuke was amazed by Gai's speed, only Choji leaned against the railing and casually chatted with Naruto.
"Naruto, I'll return your sword," Choji said, his legs trembling as he forced a smile.
He hoped returning the sword would undo fate's arrangement.
Choji really didn't want to fight.
Everyone left looked strong, and if he ended up facing someone like Gaara, wouldn't he get crushed?
But could fate be changed so easily? No!
The names on the screen continued to shuffle.
Chōji Akimichi vs. Tōshirō
Choji was considering forfeiting.
Kiba approached, borrowing Naruto's sword. "Can I pull it out?"
Naruto nodded.
Kiba drew the sword, and the scabbard accidentally jabbed Choji.
"I forfeit—"
Before Choji could finish, the scabbard knocked him off balance, sending him tumbling over the edge of the arena.
Now, the spectators' gazes toward the sword grew even stranger. What kind of magic did it hold?
Did it force anyone who held it to fight, even if they didn't want to?