"What? It's you, the guy with those strange patterns on your face! What are you doing here?"
"Don't be so uptight. I just came over to discuss and analyze the match with you guys. You're Naruto, right? We met before, and I thought you were really awesome at that time. You're just as amazing as I thought!"
Hearing the generous praise, Naruto grinned from ear to ear. All his doubts vanished in an instant. He reached out and put his arm around Kanoharu's shoulder.
"Hey! You've got good taste. Let's discuss what'll happen next!"
"O... Okay!"
?_?
Sasuke shot a disdainful look from the side. Couldn't this stupid Naruto tell that the guy was here to fish for information? He was easily deceived.
Naruto was so enthusiastic that Kanoharu, who was trying to get information, felt a bit flustered for a moment.
He glanced down at the arena floor, looking confident.
"Well, even though we're chatting like this now, Gaara's definitely going to win this match!"
"Why?"
"What do you mean 'why'? Gaara is stronger than anyone here can imagine! No ninja at this level can take him on!"
Hearing Kanoharu's words, Naruto slowly removed his arm from Kanoharu's shoulder. But instead of getting angry, he smiled with confidence.
"I have to tell you this. Rock Lee is really strong. His strength might surprise you too!"
⊙_⊙
Upon hearing this, apart from the confused Kanoharu, Sasuke, Neji, Sakura, Gai, and Kakashi all smiled in agreement.
.................
"Both contestants, step forward. The match begins!"
Rock Lee dashed forward and launched a powerful Leaf Whirlwind at Gaara's haughty face.
But his kick didn't land on Gaara's face. Instead, it was blocked by the sand surrounding Gaara.
Rock Lee refused to give up. He continued to attack from different angles and directions, but every single attack was blocked by the sand. Gaara, standing right in the middle, didn't even move a finger.
"What's going on? That guy with dark circles under his eyes didn't even make any Hand Seals. Why is the sand protecting him?"
"That's Gaara's [Absolute Defense]. The sand from his gourd automatically protects him without Gaara having to use any Chakra. And it can ignore physical attacks!"
"What a cheating move! Not having to use Chakra is even more outrageous than Kiba taking drugs!"
?_?
Kanoharu rolled his eyes. Did this guy even know what he was talking about?
..............
Rock Lee was steadily pushed back by Gaara's sand. He slipped on the ground when he wasn't paying attention and was immediately sent flying by the sand.
Gai was standing in the stands. Seeing that the situation was unfavorable to Rock Lee and it would be difficult for him to win this way, he shouted down at Rock Lee.
"Rock Lee, take off your weights!"
"Eh!"
Standing beside, Sakura let out a surprised cry. Does Teacher Gai really understand what they are doing now?
Take it off? Strip naked in front of so many people? Isn't this a bit too much of an eyesore?
"Understood, Teacher Gai!"
"Huh?"
What are this master - apprentice pair talking about? And he actually agreed. Oh my god, is there a single normal person here?
Rock Lee nimbly dodged Gaara's attacks, leaped onto the huge statue, and slowly sat down to untie the weights wrapped around his feet.
"Humph! At this point, just by removing these little weights, how much can his strength increase?"
Temari's tone was full of mockery towards Rock Lee.
But soon after she said this, she was slapped in the face by the facts before her eyes.
Rock Lee simply released his hold, and the weights on his feet fell to the ground, smashing deep pits into the flat ground. For a moment, dust flew everywhere, and everyone was stunned.
The weights Gai made for Rock Lee were too heavy.
Kakashi frowned and helplessly complained from the side.
"How could this be?"
How could he move freely while carrying such heavy weights? From this moment on, Temari officially changed her view of Rock Lee.
It seemed that in Konoha, there were not only ninjas with fancy ninjutsu, but also ninjas like this who focused all their efforts on one thing in a down - to - earth way.
The moment Rock Lee took off the weights, his speed and strength had a qualitative leap.
The people on the stage and even Gaara couldn't see his figure clearly. They only saw black lines flashing before their eyes.
Gaara saw the sand in front of him automatically defending, but he just couldn't see where Rock Lee was. At this moment, he was really panicked and searched for Rock Lee's figure aimlessly.
Rock Lee was faster than the sand. He flashed above Gaara and directly delivered a spinning heel kick, severely kicking Gaara's proud head down.
However, Rock Lee's attack was just the beginning. His unmatched speed was continuous. He broke through Gaara's defense and even shattered the Armour of Sand floating on his body.
Cracks appeared on Gaara's proud face, and the sand was constantly falling. With a ferocious expression, he continued to stick the sand back to his face bit by bit.
Seeing this, Rock Lee knew that with this layer of Armour of Sand, his fist and foot attacks wouldn't cause much damage to Gaara. He had to use a more powerful and stronger special move.
Thinking of this, he untied the bandages on his hands. Now was the time for him to launch an all - out attack.
With a flash, he appeared under Gaara and delivered another heel kick, kicking Gaara's body high into the air. A series of continuous kicks took his body off the ground.
But it was so heavy! The Armour of Sand on Gaara's body far exceeded the weight of an ordinary person, bringing a huge burden to his own body. But he couldn't care about it now.
Rock Lee tightly wrapped the bandages around Gaara's body and his own. He hugged Gaara and rapidly spun downwards.
The huge impact force from top to bottom smashed a deep pit into the ground. Rock Lee quickly jumped out and gasped for breath beside the pit.
Moves like the Lotus are extremely exhausting. After using it once, he was gasping for breath. If this move couldn't solve his problem, he would really be at the end of his rope.
Rock Lee looked into the deep pit and saw Gaara lying there with his eyes closed. The Armour of Sand on his face was slowly crumbling, but it was actually hollow inside!
He had used all his strength. However, he only dealt with an empty shell made of sand created by Gaara.
Just then, the sand on the ground was slowly gathering behind him, but Rock Lee didn't notice.
Gaara, with a ferocious look on his face, launched a powerful strike at the defenseless Rock Lee.
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