Gaara was crouching down as he made a Tiger Hand Seal, and a large amount of sand emerged behind him, creating something like a tsunami.
Before Lee could even react, his body was thrown away by the massive sand.
But Lee couldn't take a breath as the sand kept hammering towards him at a great speed.
Although he managed to block the attack and sustain some injuries, he managed to survive against Gaara's sand.
"Why didn't Lee dodge it?" Sakura asked.
"That Lotus Technique is a double-edged sword."
"Huh?" Sakura looked at Guy with confusion as he watched Lee while Kakashi explained.
"It's normally a forbidden technique. All that high-speed Taijutsu puts a lot of stress on the legs and body. Right now, he's feeling so much pain he can barely move."
Hearing that, Sakura and Sasuke's eyes widened.
For someone with Sharingan, this wasn't a good fighting style unless they could bear the pain.
The thought of learning this kind of Taijutsu disappeared when Sasuke heard Kakashi's explanation.
Itachi not only had Sharingan, but he also had advanced Sharingan. This meant a slight distraction in a battle would be his death signal.
At this moment, Lee kept getting attacked by Gaara's sand as he remembered his first time meeting Guy.
'Those who can't believe in them, hard work is worthless. That's why you should believe in yourself and run forward.'
'Become a strong man, I look at and smile. You got that, Lee?'
As he thought about it for a moment, he got a powerful boost in his confidence and strength at the same time.
Suddenly, Gaara's sand came his way, but Lee managed to dodge it this time.
'Sensei is watching and smiling. Just from that, I am revived, stronger than before.'
Lee finally put a smile on his face and raised his right hand in a fighting stance.
At this moment, Guy smiled and said.
"The Lotus of the Leaf Blooms Twice."
When Guy said those words, Naruto couldn't help but get goosebumps. The memories of Lee's battle kept playing in his head.
Despite his knowledge, despite everything Lee was going to go through, Naruto didn't say a word.
He just silently watched.
At this moment, he didn't even listen to Kakashi and Guy talking about the Eight Inner Gates.
He knew them. Because of Kurama, he didn't learn this Jutsu, even though it was quite powerful.
There was a reason, though.
His Chakra was already massive with those limiters. If he unlocked those limiters, his body might simply collapse.
Even if it didn't, he wouldn't be doing much unless he trained his entire life for this Jutsu.
The problem was that he didn't. That's why even after losing Kurama, he didn't use this Jutsu.
His body was strong. His Uzumaki genetics gave him a powerful life force and also a strong healing factor, but it didn't make him indestructible.
If he had unlocked those inner gates, his body wouldn't have been able to withstand the force of that much Chakra.
The first three gates were easy to open, and he wouldn't suffer much. But the benefits given by the first three gates weren't enough for him to do so.
At least, that's why his future-self relied on Sage Mode to stop Code rather than use Eight Gates.
As for not knowing that Jutsu, it was simply not possible. Not only was he the Hokage, but one of his friends was the user of the Eight Inner Gates.
How could he not know about it?
Not only the Eight Inner Gates, but he also knew about the Uzumaki clan's Adamantine Chains and his father's Flying Raijin Jutsu.
But just because he knew didn't mean he could use them. Just like the Eight Inner Gates, he didn't have a certain necessary factor to use them.
Knowledge of Sealing Jutsu!
With how busy he was as a Hokage, how could he have the time to study Sealing Jutsu?
And without studying Sealing Jutsu, it was impossible to master both of them. So while he did fulfill other requirements, he simply didn't have time.
At this moment, Naruto reflected on his journey as a Ninja.
He never strived to get stronger.
He had time. In the time after he married Hinata and before he became Hokage, he could've mastered the Sealing Jutsu.
But as the strongest person in the world, he didn't think he needed to get stronger.
And when disaster struck, he no longer got any chance to improve.
At this moment, he couldn't help but feel terrified. He even forgot to focus on the battle, just thinking about how naive he was.
He wanted to become Hokage. He wanted to bring back Sasuke. But every time he got stronger, he did it out of necessity.
Not out of willingness.
He chose to steal the Book of Seals because he wanted to graduate. He chose to learn Summoning Jutsu because he wanted to prove Neji wrong.
He chose to go in training with Jiraiya to get stronger and bring back Sasuke. When he couldn't do that, he chose to learn Rasenshuriken.
When Toad Sages told him he needed Sage Mode to defeat Pain, he went to learn Sage Mode.
When he was told he needed to master the power of Nine Tails, he chose to meet Killer Bee and learn to tame Nine Tails and take his power.
When he faced Madara Uchiha, he did his best to save the Four-Tails, which made Kurama believe in him and give him the full support of his Chakra.
When Madara killed him, he met Hagoromo and was bestowed the power of the Sage of Six Paths.
The only thing he chose to learn was Rasengan, and even that was something Jiraiya gave him because of the Akatsuki's threat.
It's not like he never trained to get stronger. He had trained plenty.
But he trained and strived to get stronger.
At this moment, he realized, unlike Neji, Lee, and Sasuke, he only got stronger to survive.