'A Jutsu that controls sand? A bit troublesome. Well, let's try it out!' Thinking this, Lee charged at Gaara again.
Then, Lee used Konoha Whirlwind, Konoha Great Whirlwind, and some straight punches. Unfortunately, Lee's attacks couldn't touch Gaara at all, being intercepted by the sand.
Afterward, Lee faced an onslaught from the sand. Reacting swiftly, Lee drew a kunai, rapidly attacking the sand to prevent it from surrounding him.
Escaping the danger, Lee counterattacked with a powerful kick, but it was unsurprisingly blocked.
Seeing this, Lee frowned. Noticing another wave of sand approaching, he could only quickly retreat, putting distance between himself and Gaara.
After dodging the danger, he threw two shuriken, which were also ineffective.
"I say, even with Lee's fast attacks, they're completely useless?" Sakura exclaimed in shock.
"What's going on?" Naruto couldn't understand at all.
"No physical attack works. Regardless of Gaara's will, the sand automatically forms a shield to protect his body. So, no one has been able to hurt Gaara so far," Kankuro explained calmly upon hearing them.
Hearing Kankuro, Naruto stared at him blankly.
'Damn it, he himself isn't moving at all!' Lee felt extremely challenged.
"Is that all? Excite me more." Looking at Lee, Gaara finally spoke.
As Gaara's words fell, the sand surrounded Lee again. This time, Lee jumped a bit too slowly, getting caught by the sand. It then spun him around a few times before hurling him heavily against the wall.
Soon, the sand coalesced into a mass and charged at him. Lee quickly rolled away, then launched another attack at Gaara.
But no matter how Lee attacked with Taijutsu, it was easily blocked by the sand.
"Why does Lee only use Taijutsu? Close combat like that is tough. He should create distance and use Ninjutsu..." Seeing this, Sakura asked curiously.
Because Lee had saved her before, she considered him a good friend. As for Lee's feelings for her, Sakura simply couldn't accept them.
"It's not that he doesn't want to use it… he can't," Hearing her, Guy slowly explained.
"Huh?" Hearing Guy, Sakura turned to him in shock.
"Lee... he can hardly use Ninjutsu or Genjutsu. When I first met Lee, I felt nothing special about him. He had no talent," Guy reminisced.
Hearing this, Sakura found it hard to believe. After all, Lee was so strong.
On the field, Lee was in danger. As Gaara's sand attacked continuously, Lee stumbled over some sand during a backflip and fell.
Afterward, the sand vaguely formed a giant hand grabbing at Lee. Just as everyone thought Lee was done for, Lee burst forth with extremely fast speed, leaping high into the air.
He landed on the giant hand-seal sculpture in the arena. Above, Guy gave him a thumbs-up: "Lee, take them off!"
"But... but, Guy-sensei, you said I should only take them off when protecting many important people..." Lee hesitated.
"It's fine. I approve," Guy said seriously.
Guy cared deeply for his student and didn't want him to exit so carelessly.
With permission, Lee smiled and began removing his leg weights, revealing the weights inside.
Everyone watched curiously. "They're weights? I see."
"Boring!" Kankuro said disdainfully.
'Hmph, just shedding a bit of weight. How could he possibly keep up with Gaara's sand?' Temari was unconcerned.
But as Lee dropped two thin-looking items, everyone was stunned. The two items made a loud crashing sound upon hitting the ground, even damaging the floor.
Ritsu and Ui were amazed. Then, Lee's displayed speed made Ui astonished. After all, Lee's speed now was comparable to hers.
'This was the so-called Genin? Isn't it a bit too strong?' Of course, if Lee only showed this much ability, Ui was confident she could defeat him.
Though their speeds were comparable, Lee's attack power didn't pose a significant threat to Ui for now.
While Ui didn't have Takeru's monstrous defense, her own defense, reinforced with Nen's Ken and plus Armament Haki, was also very formidable.
"Go, Lee!" On the other side, with an excited smile, Guy shouted.
"Alright!" Lee shouted back. He leaped down from the sculpture, disappearing and reappearing on the ground. Then, with a burst of power, he threw a powerful punch at Gaara. Gaara hadn't even reacted yet.
However, Lee's attack still didn't work, thanks to Gaara's sand's automatic protection.
So, even if Gaara was stunned or inactive, it wouldn't affect the sand's automatic defense.
Thus, although Lee's speed and power had improved by several levels, it still had no effect.
Finally, during a leap down, Lee's foot finally struck Gaara, leaving a mark on his face.
[Unbelievable. He actually hurt Gaara.] Temari was stunned.
"That bushy-brow guy is faster than before. Is he really that strong?" Naruto said in surprise, looking at Lee.
"Youth means to burst forth!" Seeing this, Guy, even more excited than Lee, shouted.
Ui and Ritsu silently distanced themselves from him. Even Kakashi slightly shook his head and moved away.
After the successful hit, Lee wanted to press the advantage. But Gaara had fully reacted. Seeing Lee charging fast, he released massive waves of sand to attack and intercept.
However, Lee dodged with even greater speed, circled Gaara twice rapidly, then suddenly appeared, delivering a powerful punch to Gaara's face, sending him flying.
"Amazing! So fast! The sand defense couldn't keep up, and he landed a direct hit!" Sakura excitedly cried.
"So fast!"
"Can't even follow with our eyes. Can we really fight someone like that?" Ino couldn't help but swallow nervously.
As for Gaara, when he stood up again, his entire aura changed. The sand beneath him even altered slightly.
"This is bad..." Seeing this, Kankuro said worriedly.
"Yeah, it's bad. That panda-eye got punched hard," Hearing Kankuro, Naruto said with a laugh.
"That's not what I'm talking about," Kankuro replied helplessly to Naruto.
Soon, when Gaara raised his head, everyone saw a layer of broken, yellow sand on his body surface.
Because of Lee's earlier punch, a piece had fallen from his cheek.
Gaara now looked more ferocious. Most importantly, this sand normally covered his surface, disguised as skin. So, Lee's attack still hadn't hit Gaara's actual body directly… it was blocked outside.
'That expression on Gaara... I haven't seen it in a long time.'
'In this Chunin Exams, he's becoming more and more unstable.'
Kankuro and Temari were worried seeing Gaara's state.
Their Jonin Instructor was even more concerned if the other Gaara was awakening… specifically, the One-Tail Shukaku...
Soon, as the agitated sand merged back into Gaara, he became completely intact again.
This was Gaara's [Sand Armor]. Normally, sand forms a shield for defense. But if the sand shield breaks, the sand armor also resists attacks.
Of course, the sand armor wasn't invincible. Firstly, its defense was lower than the sand shield. Secondly, maintaining it consumed a large amount of Chakra. Most importantly, the sand sticking to Gaara also increased his stamina consumption.