Patience pays off

As the last few remaining names quickly shuffled, Naruto looked at the remaining leaf ninja around the room. There was that Lee guy, who seemed very vocal about him wanting to prove himself. Shino was still quietly standing there by his sensei, seemingly deep in thought, if his silence was anything to go by. And of course, there was his Ino-chan, who seemed a bit put off after the match just moments ago.

"Ino-chan?", Naruto said, getting her attention as he smiled warmly. "Don't worry, Ino-chan. I'm sure you'll win your match. You're not going to give Sakura-chan the chance to make fun of the fact you didn't, are you?", Naruto asked, getting shake of her head. "Of course not, Naruto-kun! But...", Ino trailed off nervously. Naruto could see she needed a bit more encouragement, or maybe an incentive.

Naruto brought his mouth next to Ino's ear so she would be the only one to hear him as he spoke how he did when they were alonem "Ino-chan.", Naruto said huskily, making her breath hitch out of reflex and her nervous look was shifted to one of surprise. "If you win your match, you'll get a reward. Understood?", Naruto asked as Ino slowly nodded her head. "Yes... I understand, Naruto-kun." Ino said in almost a dreamy whisper, making Naruto grin. "Good girl.". Those two words sent a shiver up her spine.

Just as Naruto stopped encouraging Ino in his own special way, both leaf Genin heard a shout from a now familiar voice. "Hey fucker!". Upon turning to see the source of the voice, they found a very pissed, but smug Tayuya standing there. "I hope you both enjoyed the show I just gave, because that's going to happen to you if we fight in the finals. And I won't give them a chance to stop me that time.", Tayuya warned as she gave a hard glare at Naruto in particular.

"Dosu was a worthless prick, but he at least told me who took my friend from me.", Tayuya said, pointing right at Naruto. "You better watch your back. I might not wait to fight you in the exam, you Konoha-scum.", Tayuya said as she turned around, not even bothering to see the looks the two were giving her. "Is she for real?", Ino asked, making Naruto nod. "I bet that mummy ninja told her we left Kin to die in the forest or something like that.", Naruto commented, wondering if he could get Kin out sooner to keep the redhaired beauty from doing what she said.

A sudden loud sound got the attention of all in the room. Naruto saw Lee jumping up and down excitedly as he cheered out. Looking up at the board, Naruto saw the cause of the strange leaf Genins excitedness.

Rock Lee VS. Subaku Gaara

"YES! Now I can show the fruits of Gai-sensei's training.", Lee yelled as he jumped over the railng, finding that taking the steps to the ring wasn't quick enough for his tastes as he landed in the ring. Gaara however disappeared in a swirl of sand and reappeared in the ring. "It makes me so happy to fight you.", Lee stated with a grin to the emotionless Sand ninja before him.

Gaara's response was to pop the top of the gourd on his back and let the contents of it fall to the floor of the ring. "Wait, is that sand?", Naruto asked curiously, making Ino nod. "Looks like it, but what is he planning on doing with that?". A look from the examiner told he was curious too, but nonetheless, he raised his hand and yelled "Begin!" .

Lee, fully intending on being the first to attack, charged straight at Gaara and jumped, performing a spinning kick in midair. "Konoha Hurricane!", Lee yelled out his attack as his foot went straight for Gaara's head, only for it to stop midair as it was intercepted by sand. That got looks from everyone in the room of surprise with the exception of the Suna team of course.

"What the... the sand intercepted the attack!", Naruto shouted out of shock, he had never heard of something like this before. "What kind of a technique is that?", Shikamaru muttered, watching the sand defend against every attack Lee sent Gaara's way. Having seen what it could do in the forest of ****, he could tell it was insanely effective at getting the job done, and with the way he had used it, he had no problems to use its deadly attacks.

And it seemed that the defense the sand was giving Gaara was unbreakable. Every punch, every kick Lee did was caught. Even with his great speed it seemed no use. "Why doesn't he use some ninjutsu or something? He can't win if he just uses hand to hand combat!", Ino muttered in wonder as Gai decided to fill them in. "It's because he can't use anything but taijutsu.".

That statment got looks from everyone as Gai looked to Lee after the strange leaf ninja was tossed across the ring by Gaara's sand. "Lee, you may remove them!", he yelled, getting a look from his student. "But, Gai-sensei! You said I should only take them off when I'm protecting people who are important to me!", Lee said in surprise. "It's okay, I will allow it!", Gai yelled, making him smile. "Really? Really?!", Lee asked excitedly as he reached to his legs and pulled something from under his leg warmers, it appeared to be weights.

"Are those...?" Ino asked in disbelief ."How old fashioned.", Shikamaru muttered as Lee seemed relieved. "Finally! Now I can move freely!", he yelled, tossing the weights away. No one expected anything unusal from them, 'till they hit the floor and twin pillars of smoke rose from the impact, nearly shaking the room to its foundation.

With shocked and surprised looks from all present, Lee charged again. This time he seemed to have he upper hand as his hits not only began to pierce the sand shield, but came closer and closer to Gaara's body. "Woah, he's so fast! He's faster than Haku-chan!", Naruto said in awe as Gai grinned. "This is what a true taijutsu specialist is capable of.", Gai said as Lee finally landed a hit on Gaara.

The Suna team couldn't believe that the strange Leaf Ninj had pierced Gaara's defense like this. It seemed even Gaara's sand was having trouble keeping up with Lee's speed at this point. "No way! It's like Lee turned this match completely around! He could win this!", Naruto said excitedly as a voice got his attention. "Don't think so. Gaara's just getting started and now that that Lee guy hit him, it's only going to go down hill for him now.", Temari said in a tone telling Naruto how bad it really was.

And it seemed Temari's prediction came true. Just as it seemed Lee was about to win, Gaara's sand exploded outward, catching the Shinobi off guard at the sudden attack and, with an insane look on his face, Gaara watched as the sand grabbed at Lee's body. Lee dodged it as best he could, but as the fight progressed, Lee even resorted to using the inner gates to beat Gaara. Such a feat was putting an immense strain on Lee's bod, and it was draining all his strength to keep this fight going. Lee tried one final atatck to end the match, his body not being able to take much more.

But as soon as Lee performed the reverse lotus, his strongest attack, Gaara got the upper hand as when Lee landed on the floor from his airborn attack. Gaara's sand wrapped themseleves around his left arm and leg and Gaara called out "Subakukyu (Coffin of crushing sand)!", and just as the name implied, it crushed both of Lees limbs. Lee yelled out in pain as he fell to the floor. Gaara however fully intended to make a fatal attack and made his sand rush at Lee.

But before that could happen, Lee was saved by Gai as he intervened in the match. "That's enough, you have won.", Gai said warningly as Gaara glared at him, clearly not happy about the Jounins intervention in the fight. "I agree, the winner of the fight is Subaku no Gaara.", the examiner announced as medical Ninja rushed into the room. "Quick, we need to get him in.", one of them shouted as they placed the knocked out Leaf ninja on a stretcher.

Naruto couldn't believe how the fight had ended. Now he could see why Shikamaru had told his team to avoid the redhead Suna ninja. He was dangerous. Gaara returned to his team as Lee was taken to where the rest of the injured fighters were.

As soon as the ring was cleared of all but the examiner, he looked to the remaining contestants. "The next match is..." he began as the last four names were shuffled about.