Right to it as Lee's ready to open the Hidden Lotus on Gaara's sandy ass. Even Lee's [i]skin color[/i]'s changed he's so pumped, and the spectators don't know what's up. He's not stopping at the third gate, though - he opens the fourth, the Gate of Pain, and Kakashi remarks this just isn't something you can do through sheer willpower. Lee kicks Gaara in the face so hard that everbody has to shield their eyes from the sand. The kick launches Gaara up in the air so hard and fast his Sand Shield can't keep up, and the Sand Armor's got some serious cracks in it. Then Lee literally starts beating Gaara in the air like a bastard little pinball. [i]Oh my god.[/i] Lee's ripping his own muscles to hit Gaara like this, and prepares to open the Gate of Closing. Gaara's defenseless, and also slightly terrified. This is to be Lee's trump card against Neji, which he's showing Gaara now. Lee hammers him again, holding onto Gaara by his wrist-tape and we get why Hidden Lotus works against Gaara and Neji - it's so fast, there's no possible way you can keep up, though at horrible cost to your own body. He yanks Gaara back and... HIDDEN LOTUS! It is cosmic in its impact, and thinks on Lee start to break. Gaara's gourd starts to turn into sand before he hits.
The unthinkable - the last of Gaara's sand cushions his blow. The Sand Ninja starts to draw the sand up into a giant hand, and Shino realizes that he's going for the Sand Coffin/Burial fatality, and Lee can't get away. The Sand Coffin encases Lee's arm and leg, and Bushy-Brow thinks on his Way of the Ninja as Gaara goes for Sand Burial. There's an eruption of sand, and Guy stands in defense of his student to Gaara's outrage. He seems to flash on younger versions of his siblings and some other people, and rasps why Guy would save him? Guy responds it's because Lee is his student (well, 'important subordinate'), whom he cares for. Unsuprisingly, Gaara doesn't know Earth words like caring. Hayate's about to announce Gaara the winner since Guy interefered, but... LEE IS ON HIS FEET! He wants to prove his Way of the Ninja, and he isn't even conscious. Gaara's the winner, but he had to beat a respectable Ninja to do it. Sakura wants to leap down to go help Lee, but Kakashi says anything she'd do would make him feel worse - also Lee's still out of it. The Ninja Paramedics tend to him, and they tell Guy it'll be a while before he'll be up and moving, with the worst of it being the Sand Burial he took on his arm and leg. The Paramedic doesn't think Lee will ever be a Shinobi again. Naruto can't believe it. Guy's breaking up over Lee maybe never able to prove his Way of the Ninja, and asks Lee's forgiveness for not stopping things sooner.
Naruto wants to go after Lee, but Kakashi stops him. Kakashi wants Naruto to understand just how far Lee was willing to go to get what he believed in. Gaara seems puzzled by all the humanity floating around the arena, and even Neji's sort of regretful (for Neji). In a nice moment, Kakashi says that now he understands why Guy trained Lee in the dangerous ways he did, and apologizes for earlier. To follow that, we get our last battle - Choji vs. Dosu. Choji is doing it for all you can eat BBQ! Hurray for big-boned! Dosu wants to get into the finals so he can face Sasuke (whose name I realize I haven't typed in ages), and realizes that the Sound Ninja were just a trial run so Orochimaru could see Sasuke's powers, and Dosu realizes he's been set up to played and discarded like Zaku was.
Next Episode: Naruto trains for the main tournament, and Sakura's worried! Also Kabuto and scalpels.
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