For a moment, nobody really said anything.
The most telling reaction of anyone's though, was Neji's. The frustration on his face was plain as day, his lips pulled back half way between a snarl and a frown.
He was clearly not happy with how things turned out..
Not that Daiki could blame him. He may have one, but he barely displayed anything beyond the Kaiten in that fight, he never even landed a hit before Sakura used up her cards and gave up.
The pink haired girl not only got the chance to strut her stuff a bit and show multiple traits from ruthlessness to pragmatism and of course intelligence in knowing when to retreat from a superior foe, but she also stopped Neji from showing off what he could do for the most part as well, dropping his promotion prospects.
His pure white eyes follows Sakura right up until she was escorted out of the room by the medics to heal her hands.
Just before she disappeared through the doors though, the pink haired girl looked back, her emerald green eyes meeting with Daiki's own.
The large happy smile on her face practically made her glow.
And then she was gone.
And it was time for the final match.
"Alright, I suppose we don't even need to use the board now," Hayate declared, looking up at all the assembled shinobi and kunoichi, "The final match will be between Rock Lee and Gaara, so both of you come on down."
"Tch." Neji turned away from the doors Sakura had left through at the announcement, clicking his tongue.
The Hyuuga began making his way back up at the same time Gaara impassively began making his way down and-
"Yosh!" Lee happily cheered bouncing on his feet and rapidly shadow boxing in place, bandages fists scything through the air like bullets, "It is finally my turn, what a splendid time to be alive, I sha-"
"Lee!" Gai shouted cutting the leotard wearing genin off and grabbed the boy around the neck, "Listen carefully, I have made quite an astute observation I feel I must share with you before you explode with the power of youth."
"Yes Gai-sensei!" Lee gave him his full attention.
Gai nodded before looking around almost suspiciously, "Your opponent….that gourd on his back…is suspicious." he not so quietly revealed.
Daiki snorted as Kakashi palmed his face at his side, "I mean, he's not wrong." the tan genin laughed lightly.
Gai was always a riot.
Neither Lee nor Gai seemed to notice all the dry gazes sent their way.
"Gai-sensei, thank you for your wisdom, I shall keep your words in mind!" Lee happily took his words.
"Oh Lee!" Gai swept the boy into a tight hug, tears streaming from his eyes.
"Gai-sensei!" a hug that Lee was all too happy to return, tears budding in his eyes as well.
"…These guys are weirdos." Naruto commented.
"Like you're one to talk." Daiki snorted.
"And the hell is that supposed to mean?" the blonde turned to him with a glare.
"You're the one who likes turning into a hot busty female version of yourself." Daiki shrugged.
"Hot huh?" Naruto snorted back at him, "Can't be weird if it works."
Daiki opened his mouth to respond, before pausing. That was pretty sound logic to be honest. Not something he'd ever do, but the blonde wasn't wrong.
"No it's still weird dumbass." Sasuke scoffed.
"Shut the fuck up bastard," Naruto gave a sneer, "You're just saying that cuz' you know you'd never be able to match up to my sexy jutsu even if you did know it."
"As if!" Sasuke growled stepping forward to glare straight into the shorter stockier blonde's eyes, "I could do it far superior to you, I just won't lower myself to such stupidity."
'Are they seriously basically arguing about who would be hotter as a chick?' Daiki thought blandly.
"Maah maah, calm down girls, you're both pretty." Kakashi interjected with an eye smile.
…How the fuck did he even do that? It was kind of creepy actually.
"Shut up Kakashi-sensei!" both Uzumaki and Uchiha snapped at him together with twin glares of sapphire and onyx.
Kakashi merely laughed and looked back down to his book.
It was a good question to ponder though.
'I wonder if a female Sasuke could actually measure up to Naruko.' Daiki mused inwardly.
And what would his female version even be called, Sasuko? Satsuki?
Whatever the case, Sasuke would have an uphill battle. If Naruto was actually Naruko, Daiki would have been all over her.
That was just how hot she was.
It was almost disappointing Naruto wasn't a girl in that sense.
And a weird thought to have to be honest.
Thankfully one he didn't need to ponder long, thanks to Lee leaping from the platform they were standing on to land below facing opposite Gaara.
"Gaara-san!" Lee greeted the redhead Jinchuuriki with a wide grin and a thumbs up, "Facing you here and now makes me very happy."
Gaara, arms crossed didn't even blink or utter a sound, just staring completely impassively at the bowl cut bearing teen.
There was a popping sound, but before the sound had even finished echoing outwards, Lee's hand shot out, grasping the cork of Gaara's gourd that had shot across the distance between them in almost just a blink of the eye.
"Calm down kid," Hayate huffed, rolling his eyes, "Wait for my call before you two start fighting."
"Yes, let us not rush things Gaara-san and enjoy this battle to our hearts content." Lee nodded, eyes going serious as he dropped the cork to the ground.
'That's the opposite of what you should be doing here.' Daiki mused, leaning over the railing and eyeing them both.
"This should be a good fight and I'll be able to see what Gaara can do." Sasuke grinned, copying him.
"That guy gives me the creeps," Naruto frowned, "Something just wigs me out about him, but it'll be good to see what bushy brows can really do."
Daiki already knew how this would go. Though he admitted; 'It'll be good to see the gates in action.' he mused.
It was just too bad he hadn't completed his new seal yet and sealed Shisui's Sharingan within him.
It meant he wouldn't be able to copy the usage of the gates. Though, he'd still be able to see how Lee did it and perhaps puzzle it out himself.
It couldn't be too complicated he supposed if Lee could actually do it. If nothing else, Daiki wanted to learn how to open the first gate. Actually, it was the one he was most interested in of all.
"Begin." Hayate declared.
As soon as the beginning of the match was declared, Lee sprung forward as a blur of speed, twisting his whole body in a single motion and lashing out with a flying spin kick, "Leaf Hurricane!" he declared.
His foot met a wall of sand that sprung up almost instantly, The sand swelled further, shaping into an almost fist like shape and bashed Lee backwards.
The force of it sent the boy rolling across the ground before he sprung up, landing in a crouch.
'That should have been the end right there.' Daiki grimaced. If Gaara had wanted to, he could have easily crushed Lee's leg right then and there.
He only didn't, because Gaara liked to play with his food.
"Sand!?" Naruto cried in shock.
Sasuke wasn't really all that better. While he didn't make a sound, his wide eyed stare spoke volumes, "He was repelled so easily." the Uchiha commented.
Lee's eyes narrowed and he pushed off, speeding to the side and winding around Gaara in a blur of motion that the vast majority of genin in the huge room they currently occupied probably couldn't even follow.
Lee's fist whipped out, the air parting around his hand and slammed into the wall of sand once again that swept around to block, sand went flying and Lee lashed out with a rapid kick that sent even more spraying through the air.
But it was like a bucket pale from a lake.
Hardly making a dent.
Before the sand could swarm over his body, Lee quickly retreated, bouncing back in a set of quick hops and fell into a ready stance, eyeing Gaara wearily.
Gaara meanwhile just continued to stare impassively, boredly even.
"Even bushy brows can't get through that sand with just taijutsu." Naruto grimaced.
"He's not fast enough to," Sasuke clicked his tongue, "He should switch to ninjutsu for a bit, test the waters."
"He can't," Daiki informed, "Lee's pretty much incapable of any worthwhile ninjutsu, he has absolutely no talent for either ninjutsu or genjutsu so he's a pure taijutsu user."
It wasn't that he had something wrong with him and was unable to use ninjutsu or genjutsu. Lee was just terrible at them and thus gave up ever being good with them and focused only on taijutsu.
Though even then, this match was still far from over. Even if Daiki was still very sure of who was going to be walking away the winner in this fight.
'Lee just lacks the mindset to use his abilities properly and take the win.' Daiki mused.
If it were him in Lee's place, he would lose the weights and open the first gate and just absolutely pound Gaara's head in.
No hitting him all over and wearing him down, he'd just target the same spot over and over again and crush his skull.
It would not only be the best way to deal with that sand armour, but it would also pose the least risk with using the gates themselves before he could handle them.
And Lee couldn't handle the upper gates as he was right now, his body wasn't strong enough to withstand them currently.
Even beyond the damage Gaara had done to him, the most damage had been done to Lee by himself.
"…How boring." Gaara commented for the first time and lifted his hand towards Lee.
As he did, the sand around him surged out rapidly and shot towards the older genin who quickly sprang away, jumping up to the top of the giant hand statues making the seal of reconciliation to escape the wave of sand.
"Lee, take them off!" Gai shouted as he landed.
'He should have taken them off from the very beginning.' Daiki scoffed inwardly. As much as he found Lee a pretty cool guy, that didn't change that his choices were stupid and he put himself at a handicap for his opponent with those weights.
A massive negative black mark towards a promotion. Lee after all, was the complete opposite of Shikamaru. While Shikamaru had the intelligence to be a chunin but lacked the strength and ability, Lee had the strength for it, but not the mentality.
"But Gai-sensei!" Lee shouted back, completely taking his eyes off of his opponent, "You said I must never take them off unless defending someone or something precious!"
"It's okay Lee, I approve of it in this instance!" Gai grinned and flashed him a thumbs up.
He'd loved this fight before. But watching it here in person, and being as he was now, it was frustrating him.
'He's a fucking shinobi, why would he never take his weights off unless for something like that?' Daiki scoffed inwardly, hands gripping the railing to tightly the metal of it warped beneath his grip.
He was lucky to never have been killed from that sheer stupidity. And even as he sat down to take off his weights completely disregarding Gaara still, Daiki couldn't help but shake his head.
…The only reason he was even getting the chance to take them off right now, was because Gaara had stopped attacking and was eyeing him with curiosity.
If the redhead jinchuuriki was as pragmatic as he was ruthless, he'd just keep attacking and not give Lee the chance to show off, he was a freaking sitting duck right now.
Watching this right now, Daiki came to a conclusion.
…Lee was far more stupid than Naruto ever was and it was a wonder he ever made it to Chunin.
"Yosh, here we go!" Lee stood up after a second, carrying his weights in hand, before promptly dropping them.
There was a mass of widening eyes as they slammed into the ground and send debris flying as they created a pair of huge craters from their sheer weight.
'Another stupid move.' Daiki scoffed inwardly again. Seeing how easy he could carry them, he should have thrown them as hard as he could their sheer weight would have forced quite a bit of the sand to Gaara's defence and left his back just a bit more vulnerable.
"What the hell!?" Naruto gaped.
"…Aren't you over doing it Gai?" Kakashi mused dryly, looking over at the leotard wearing sensei.
Gai merely laughed, "Haha, that's the way Lee, explode!" he cheered.