Irrelevant:

English dialogue will now be:
"𝙅'𝙖𝙞𝙢𝙚 𝙡𝙚𝙨 𝙜𝙚𝙣𝙨 𝙛𝙞𝙘𝙩𝙞𝙛𝙨."

3rd POV

It was sort of hard to see, but the cork of Gaara gourd was sent towards Rock Lee at a high speed.

But Lee is very cool, so he caught it, which earned him a smirk from Hayate.

"There's no need to get ansty." The Leaf Genin stated.

Gaara -being Gaara- but also a nin of few words, didn't say anything.

At all. ('･_･')

"Now, 9th match, please begin!!" Hayate announced.

The round started off with Rock Lee attempting to land a kick to Gaara's side, but it was unfortunately stopped by son sable. [it's just fcking sand]

The bowl cut kid, Rock Lee, was then sent back from the same sand.

This whole thing with Lee trying to land a hit on Gaara went on for a while, until Lee jumped back on to the statue of the hand sign that the author thinks is Ram, they can't tell.

"Lee!! Take them off!!!" Gai exclaimed with a bright smile and a thunbs up.

The opposing leaf nin perked up at this.

"But! But Gai-sensei! That's....only for a situation where I must protect many precious people, isn't it?!" Lee -respectfully and youthfully- shouted back at his sensei.

"It's alright! I'll allow it!" Gai responded back, with the same smile and thumbs up.

Rock Lee removed a leg warmer(?), revealing weights wrapped around his calf and ankle, which he took off, on both legs.

He held them separately, one in each hand,

Then dropped them.

!SHOCK! ;)

Now all of the sudden, wow! Lee can keep up with Gaara's sand!

Still doesn't change the fact that he's still gonna get beaten-

Gaara, who still hasn't said anything, had a vertical wound on his right cheek, closer to his ear.

Lee had a determined smirk on his face, he then proceeded his Taijutsu attacks that were barely able to get parried with Gaara's sand.

Gaara was hit.

Nevermind, it was just sand that protected his face, a visible crack -that was mostly a hole- on his "face" that revealed his actual face, which had quite the psychotic look etched there for a second.

The sand armour repaired itself, reverting back to it's "normal" look.

"Is that all...?" Gaara finally spoke.

Geez.

Lee was gonna use the good ol' Primary Lotus on Gaara.

Gotta love that Primary Lotus.

Anyways, Lee unwrapped around a foot of his bandages then started to do the wee-woo rapid steps circling Gaara.

"Hurry up and come..."

(Y/n): 'That's quite gay out of context, Gaara'

"AS YOU WISH!" Lee loudly stated whilst kicking Gaara in the chin and successfully catching the sand nin off guard.

"It's not over!" Rock Lee announced, taking ahold of Gaara when they were a few meters up, bandages finding it's way to wrap around Gaara.

Then they turned in to those spinning fairy toys, but upsidedown-

-and also heading straight to the ground.

Lee jumped away last minute, slamming Gaara in to the ground, making it crack and send few pieces of the earth around, a cloud of dust was also created around Gaara.

Looks of concern and shock [mainly shock] were directed towards the fight that seemed like it had ended.

The barrier of dust had cleared, some form of a crater was there - which had Gaara within said crater -.

"...Is he dead?" Naruto asked.

"Hey... No way!" Kankuro exclaimed, not finding any other words to say about what he had witnessed before him.

"..LEE-SAN WON!" Sakura had cheered.

*insert proud Gai sensei*

"Now, now, we can't underestimate leaf nin-" (Y/n) cut herself off, leaning against the railings.

Rock Lee was panting, but then he realized soothing, along with Kakashi and Gai.

"-But keep in mind to not underestimate your opponents either." (Y/n) added, for the sight in front of the watchers was just a shell of sand that only looked like Gaara [Who's face was cracked] inside the crater.

"When did he leave the sand...?! There's no way Lee could've missed that!" Gai had questioned aloud.

"It was when you closed your eyes to pray to, Gai. Lee stopped his body for a moment because of the pain, it was then..." Kakashi trailed off.

Strain was evident on Lee's body as Gaara had appeared behind him - via sand - and had sent him back with the sand as well.

Twice actually.

And yet, that didn't stop Lee, bro is just more determined now.

"It's normally a forbidden technique. All the high sleeps Taijutsu a lot of stress on the legs and overall body. Right now, he's in so much pain, he can barely move, right Gai?" Kakashi had inquired.

"No way..." Sakura muttered in disbelief.

Gai was silent, but he had faith in his student.

Lee: 'Sensei is watching and smiling... Just from that, I'm revived... Stronger, even more stronger'

"Lee-san is smiling even though he's getting pushed around..." Sakura commented.

"It's just Lee being Lee." (Y/n) muttered to herself.

"No, now the tables will turn." Gai had stated.

"Huh?" -Sakura.

"The Lotus of the Leaf... Blooms twice!" Gai had reassured.

Haha, sorry Gai and readers.

(𝚃𝚒𝚖𝚎 𝚜𝚔𝚒𝚙)

-𝘕𝘦𝘸𝘴 𝘍𝘭𝘢𝘴𝘩-

-Lee got beaten up

-Lee was about to get crushed

-Gai had saved his student

With Gai protectively standing in front of his student with stern eyes directed to the sand nin, and Gaara getting flashbacks of his shit childhood, the match was over.

"Why... Did you save...?" Gaara asked, hands on his head, trying to ease his headache and unwanted memories.

"He is my beloved comrade." Gai answered.

"Winner, Gaara!!" Hayate announced.

An unconscious Lee had got up, catching the attention of the spectators and the ones generally around him.

"Lee, enough, it's over. You shouldn't be standing with that body-" Gai cut himself off and realized something which made him tear up.

...Lee...you...
...What a guy you are...

∙

Even after loosing consciousness...
You still strive to prove your ninja way...

∙

Lee...

You already are...

Ａ ＧＲＥＡＴ ＮＩＮＪＡ

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Thought I was gonna end it there?

Probably not, actually.

∙

"Medical team, please come here quick!" Hayate called out to said people, kneeling in front of Lee beside Gai.

While checking on the Genin, one of the three medical nin noticed something and turned to Gai.

"You're his Jonin instructor, right...? Please, look at this over here..." The medical nin trailed off with a hint of worry in his tone.

"He is breathing properly but... He has shattered bones and torn muscles through out his body... We could do something about it if that was the only problem," The nin paused.

"but the damage to his left arm and leg where he was attacked is fatal." The medical nin looked down.

"It's difficult to have to say something like this, but with this body....

...He will never be able to live his life as a Shinobi again"

Gai blamed himself,

for not being able to stop Lee.

He wanted his student to believe he could win

He wanted him to be able to achieve his ninja way

"If that's so... Then what is bushy-brows suppose to do?! He always said- HMph MmH-" Naruto was cut off [by a hand over his mouth] and held back by Kakashi.

"That might have been the cause of this tragedy. The decision to use even forbidden Jutsu to win at all costs... this is the result..." Kakashi paused.

"To Sasuke, Neji-kun and even you too, Naruto. To fulfill the silent promise you all made to each other...! He put his life at risk so he could reach that final stage to fight all of you." Kakashi solemnly said.

(Y/n) observed the interaction from above, besides Sakura, she then glanced up to see Gaara's appearing beside Temari and Baki.

"Welcome back, Gaara." Temari greeted.

After the arena had cleared out of people, Hayate stood in the middle to announce the final match, which the Author was planning to skip.

"Well then, for the tenth and final match, will the last two contenders, please step forward." Hayate announced.

-𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘈𝘶𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘳 𝘵𝘪𝘮𝘦 𝘴𝘬𝘪𝘱𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘪𝘳 𝘧𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵 𝘣𝘦𝘤𝘢𝘶𝘴𝘦 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘦𝘯𝘥, 𝘤𝘩𝘰𝘫𝘪 𝘨𝘰𝘵 𝘴𝘮𝘰𝘬𝘦𝘥 𝘣𝘺 𝘋ō𝘴𝘶-

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Word count: 1381

Author: FCKING FINALLY- that's the end of the Prelims.

Cya later bozos.