Chapter 232 Gaara: So what?
"Yosh, now's the time to let your youth shine!"
Xiao Li did a series of somersaults, flipping directly from the audience seats onto the ring, assuming an extremely exaggerated starting stance.
Kai, who was in the corner, seemed to have blue flames burning in his eyes, and he roared loudly to support his disciple.
A member of the Root organization, standing not far from him, twitched the corner of his mouth beneath his mask. He and Might Guy were guarding this position together, just in case.
This mission was meant to be covert, but given the current situation, covertness is no longer necessary.
No wonder Might Guy couldn't get into the Dark Side or Root.
Perhaps the only way Might Guy could have joined the Anbu was a few years ago when Captain Kakashi was still in office, when he used his charm to persuade Kakashi to let him join.
Tsk tsk tsk, look at my brain, it's been brainwashed by all the gossip that Izumi-sama usually talks about. Sorry, Kakashi-senpai.
Seeing his teacher supporting him, Xiao Li on the stage became even more excited.
At that moment, on the side of the audience where Sandman was sitting, a stream of quicksand flowed out from the audience.
Red-haired figure stepped onto the arena as the quicksand transformed into a torrent.
Ta-da.
His feet touched the ground, and the sand behind him, which had become a road, returned to the gourd behind him with the sound of his feet hitting the arena.
Temari and Kankuro in the audience behind them had strange expressions. They looked at each other and then spoke after a while.
"Gaara... When did Gaara ever make an entrance like this?" Temari's tone seemed to carry a hint of self-doubt. To be honest, she had never seen Gaara put so much effort into his entrance.
In the past, people would simply jump onto the field or walk over.
As a result, today we found ourselves walking on quicksand, using it as a path.
"Could it be... that he was influenced by those show-offs from Konoha just now?" Kankuro himself didn't quite believe his own words. After all, in his eyes, Gaara, who sealed away monsters... could he really have such a strange competitive spirit?
Gaara was unaware that his entrance had aroused the interest of his older siblings; he simply thought the way they had entered was kind of cool.
How could he, a monster, be inferior to them?
So, Gaara used the time that Sakura and Ino had just spent fighting to think of a way to make his entrance.
"Alright, are the contestants ready?" Jifeng asked, holding a pen and looking at the two contestants with completely different personalities.
One is a green-skinned kappa, a specialty of Konoha, which comes with a youth buff and has a chance to unlock hidden blue and red kappa during battles.
The other is the Sunagakure Calabash Brothers, a specialty of Sunagakure. They come with a mother's love and also carry a not-so-stable Shukaku seal, which has a chance to unlock Shukaku's substitute attack during battle.
A sunny and youthful kappa, and a gloomy and indifferent gourd boy—that's interesting.
Seeing that neither of them had any objections, Jifeng raised his hand, and as he lowered his hand, he uttered four words.
"The duel begins!"
Unlike the previous duels where the fighters quickly engaged in close combat at the start, Lee and Gaara didn't move at all.
Lee looked at Gaara, his eyes narrowed, as if searching for his weakness.
Gaara, meanwhile, crossed his arms and stared coldly at the green-skinned kappa, wondering to himself why it wasn't moving.
"Sand, the area under the arena should be entirely sand, right?" Xiao Li suddenly said.
He didn't have strong perception abilities, but he guessed Gaara's plan through his own analysis.
Gaara's expression didn't change, but he raised his hand and grabbed at Lee.
Click, click, click.
The arena floor beneath Lee's feet shattered instantly in a circular pattern, from which surging quicksand erupted, transforming into a giant hand the size of Gaara's raised hand, attempting to grab Lee tightly and then... crush him to death.
Li's lips curled up, and he stomped down, shattering the circular arena floor instantly, while his figure appeared in the air.
Gaara raised his other hand, and two large hands formed from quicksand chased after Rock Lee in the air.
Knock knock knock!
In mid-air, Lee Rock's legs swung, and two seemingly sturdy leg bindings were flung out, colliding with two large hands of quicksand.
The moment they made contact, Sand Hand felt as if he had been struck by something extremely heavy, and he collapsed to the spot.
Gaara's pupils contracted sharply, clearly startled by what Lee had thrown.
The heavy object landed with a loud thud that echoed throughout the arena, further shattering the already dilapidated ring and sending up clouds of dust that obscured the view.
Xiao Li's figure landed on the ground again. As the dust settled, two training leg wraps were clearly visible in the center of the shattered ring.
"Really? Another monster?" Kiba and Akamaru stared wide-eyed at Rock Lee in the center of the arena, then glanced at Naruto and the others, silently falling into self-doubt.
"Lee's level of effort is even greater than Neji's."
This isn't something she says every day, since she's currently taking care of Neji in the infirmary.
Instead, it was Naruto who often secretly went with Hinata to see Neji and witnessed Lee's hard work.
The damage caused by the Eight Gates technique to the body is not a minor pain that ends quickly; Neji will need to recuperate properly.
Or bring Naruto with blond hair over so Neji can have a few more breaths.
Yes, Neji had this idea. This blond guy even tricked his young lady, so letting him have a few puffs of his own was already too good for him.
The scene returns to the field, where the battle between Gaara and Lee continues.
Xiao Li's figure flashed around the arena, and almost every time he moved, quicksand exploded beneath his feet.
A hint of impatience flashed in Gaara's eyes. His chakra, which he had originally intended to play around with casually, began to increase, and more quicksand flowed out from inside the arena and from his gourd.
This is bad, the opponent is a field ninja.
Rock Lee's secret passage is in trouble. For an extremely ordinary taijutsu ninja like him, it will be very difficult to fight against a field ninja.
Especially in a situation like Gaara's, where the terrain is turned into a desert, any movement or exertion of force will be hindered.
We can't wait any longer.
Xiao Li took a deep breath, noticeably increased his speed, and widened the gap between himself and Gaara.
"Is he going to use... the same move Neji just used?" Choji chewed on a potato chip, looked at Lee, and said.
"Highly likely." Naruto was very familiar with the Eight Gates Formation. He had fought against a kappa using the Eight Gates Formation when he was three or four years old.
However, they were completely crushed back then.
A kappa like this would definitely know the Hakimi Dunjia technique.
Lee's gaze met Guy's, and then, just like Neji had done before, chakra surged within his body.
________________________________________
Can't wait for the next chapter?
30+ advanced chapters are already available on Patreon!
👉 patreon.com/Tanji_Fanfics
________________________________________
end of this chapter...