Ninja Gamer

Chapter 27: End of the Prelims: Hokage Announcent

I frowned slightly as I watched Lee-kun and Gaara-kun make their way down to the arena from the stands, a feeling of worry building up in my chest. Would there have been enough changes to canon to allow Lee-kun to actually walk away from this? Or would history repeat itself?

If memory served, the initial injury that Lee-kun had received from Gaara-kun in the original timeline was just a broken leg, something that all Taijutsu fighters had to deal with at some point and easily recoverable from. What had almost ended his career as a Shinobi had been the further injuries to his arm and spine that Gaara had inflicted on him after the sand-user had already won.

Gaara-kun was just as expressionless as ever, but I knew that that was simply a facade for the bloodthirsty personality that that idiot Rasa and Shukaku had cultivated. The [Automatic Defence: Sand Shield] and [Final Defence: Sand Armour] had allowed Gaara-kun to develop a supreme being complex, as nothing had been able to hurt him in years, not even his own father. His loneliness and dislocation from his peers had driven him somewhat mad after another idiot, Yashamaru, had almost killed him on his father's orders.

Rasa had obviously been trying to kill Gaara-kun's emotions, in an even less humane way than Danzo had tried with his Root operatives. Wow... someone being worse than Danzo in that department... harsh.

By contrast, Lee-kun was just as much an excited ball of energy as he had always been. If things were going to turn out like they had in the original timeline, then everyone was going to see why a ninja did not need chakra or talent to be a force to be reckoned with.

I took in a calming breath as I looked between the two. "Are the both of you ready?" I questioned, getting nods from the both of them as Lee gave me a 'Nice Gai' pose. "Very well, BEGIN!"

I will just have to be ready to act if I am needed.

Lee-kun exploded into motion at my announcement as he threw a punch at Gaara-kun so quickly that if you had blinked, you would have missed it. Just as quickly, however, a tendail of sand blocked his fist. Karura-san's dying will to protect her son was almost enough to make me cry.

But, it wouldn't do for me to do that right here and now as I schooled my features carefully, keeping a close eye on the ongoing match. "The Kazekage's son is quite talented it seems," Hiruzen-sama commented, looking over at me with a raised eyebrow.

"Perhaps," I replied evenly. "But it seems like he is wasting his potential to me, he seems more like a wild animal to me right now than a shinobi."

Hiruzen-sama hummed in agreement as he nodded. "Indeed, he is quite bad at hiding his intentions, isn't he?" he sighed as he shook his head. "Such a shame, with the proper guidance, he could become truly amazing."

I closed my eyes as I nodded. "That he could," I murmured in agreement as Lee began to backflip away from the approaching sand. Gaara-kun wasn't even trying hard right now, I could tell. He was playing with Lee-kun, who had no way of attacking other than with his fists and feet. I would have to ask Gai-san why he didn't give Lee-kun more training in weapons, as that would be a very useful addition to his arsenal. In the original timeline, Lee-kun had only ever used a Six-Section Staff a grand total of once, during the Crescent Moon Kingdom incident.

Making a note to bring that up with Gai-san, I refocused on the match as Lee-kun deftly avoided Gaara-kun's sand attacks with the minimal amount of movement necessary.

Really, Lee-kun was nothing short of a genius in his own way, how could he be anything else when standing on this stage with nothing but his taijutsu.

Lee-kun was forced back, the green-clad genin landing on the statue of the hand-seals above me. Ah. It was about to happen.

"Lee! Take 'em off!" Gai-san boomed with a 'Nice Gai' pose.