It's been another long hiatus, but I'm back again. All graduated and out in the real world, but I will still finish this series. In the words on Naruto's annoying pre-Shippuden dub, "Believe it!"

Chapter 24: Absolute Defense

Neji vs. Gaara

Though the stadium had by no means quelled down, the cheering and jeering had temporary come to a halt as the numerous spectators pushed past each other to reach merchants, bathrooms, vendors, and the like. The qualifying candidates were all in the medics' tent, receiving the highest quality medical treatment offered by the Leaf to ensure optimal performance for the next fight. As one medic siphoned chakra back to Neji, the Hyūga eyed Gaara cautiously. Having seen his fights with Ino and Temari, he knew what kind of monster he was dealing with. Weapons were insufficient, and mind control was no good. Gaara was a master of defense. But…so was he.

Gaara needed virtually no medical attention, but was nonetheless confined to the same rest area as the rest of his peers. He remained as composed as ever, but his bloodlust was rising as he examined his prospective victims. The Leaf's former no. 1 rookie. The Leaf's current no. 1 rookie. A strategist out to avenge his teammate. And a hot-head with an unexpected penchant for theatrics. Gaara licked his lips. Whose blood would his sand be tasting?

"Excuse me, gentlemen." Genma's voice disrupted the group's private trains of thought as he poked his head in. "We have an issue that we need to rectify right now."

"What's up?" Naruto asked as everyone eyed the proctor.

"Well, there are obviously an odd number of you here," Genma stated, "so someone will have to take a bye into the next round."

"I refuse," Gaara growled. "I'm fighting this next round."

"Same here," Neji replied. "Besides, the more exposure we get, the more opportunities we have to be promoted, right?"

"That's correct," Genma replied, admittedly impressed at the zeal of this newest batch of potential chūnin. "Well, unless one of you volunteers to sit this round out, we'll have to draw straws."

For a moment, no one said anything until Shikamaru's hand slowly rose. "I suppose I can take one for the team," he yawned. Somehow, Genma was highly dubious that this move required any sort of sacrifice on his part, but no one else appeared interested in accepting a free spot into the next round, so it was a moot point.

"Very well then. The matchups in this round are as follows: Gaara and Neji, followed by Sasuke and Naruto. Shikamaru will fight in the next round with one of the two winners, and then the surviving two will compete for the final opportunity to show the elite what they've got."

Naruto grinned triumphantly as he surveyed his competition. This was a room of elites…and Shikamaru. It was just a stepping stone…but slowly, the path to Hokage seemed to be unfolding before him.

"So it's settled," Genma declared. "Neji, Gaara, you're on in five. Don't disappoint the crowd. They can be pretty vicious if they aren't given a show."

"They aren't the only ones," Gaara replied in an undertone as Genma left. Neji scoffed in retaliation.

Baki watched from the stands as his pupil and his opponent made their way back into the stadium's center as the masses excitedly rushed back to their seats. Eying the stationed Anbu wearily, he looked up as one of the Kazekage's body guards appeared before him.

"What's our current status?" Baki muttered.

"Everything's still up in the air," was the curt reply. "We're buying as much time as we can to commence with preparations, but there are very few openings available to us at this moment."

"I see…" Baki glanced down at Gaara. "So the plan right now is for Gaara to buy us as much time as he can?"

"We can't count on Gaara to take his time on an opponent," the shinobi scoffed. "Damn Kankurō and Temari for losing in the first round…"

"Well, keep me informed," Baki replied. "If we have to abort the mission and regroup, we can prepare a future stage."

"Agreed. Keep your eyes open."

Baki looked up just as the attack began. Sand leaked out of Gaara's gourd, assembling above him in the form of shuriken.

"It's a sand shuriken barrage!"

The crowd marveled at the massive quantity of shuriken that went slicing through the air toward Neji. The shuriken crashed into Neji, creating copious amounts of dust that shielded the Leaf genin from the audience's peripheral. As it settled, however, they saw that he was quite unharmed.

"That's right," Gaara growled. "You had a defensive move yourself."

"Rotation," Neji clarified. "It's an absolute defense."

"Is that right?"

Gaara hurled more sand shuriken at Neji. The latter deflected them with a Rotation and retaliated with a several kunai. They were caught easily in Gaara's sand, but the letter bombs attached to the handles exploded in close proximity with the Sand shinobi.

"Did he do it?!" Naruto exclaimed from the medics' tent.

"Of course not," Shikamaru scolded him as Gaara was revealed to be quite unharmed. Raising his arms up, Gaara unearthed much of the sand and dirt around Neji into the air.

"Shit!" Neji rejected the sand crashing around him with Rotation once more, but Gaara relentlessly assaulted him with it.

"Your defense is worthless!" Gaara exclaimed as Neji took a split second to recover and the sand breached through, knocking him off his feet. Neji recovered with a front hand spring, retreating further away from Gaara cautiously.

As Shino revealed, Rotation can't be activated infinitely, Neji gnashed his teeth as he analyzed his opponent. For most opponents, that isn't an issue, but for these ridiculous barrage attacks, my limitations are definitely becoming more apparent. What's more, I'm a close-combat specialist, but I'm getting forced farther away, which is only working to Gaara's advantage…

"Take this!" Gaara's face was livid as his gnarled hand extended toward Neji. A large sphere of sand began to form around Neji. Disregarding it, Neji's sole focus was on his enemy.

Gaara's defense isn't perfect either though. Think, Neji…Temari's final attack was able to break through his defense, even if it didn't particularly hurt him. Why is that?

As he thought about her scythe-wielding weasel summon, his eyes widened. "Of course!" He exclaimed as the sand came crashing around him.

"Is Neji okay?!" Hinata anxiously asked Kiba from the stands.

Kiba inhaled the air briefly. "I don't smell any blood…I don't think Gaara's killed him yet…"

As if on cue, the sand condensing around Neji was blown away in a burst of powerful blue chakra, expelling him forward into the air.

"What the hell?!" Naruto exclaimed at Neji's sudden projection.

"Why are you so surprised?" Sasuke asked. "It's basically the same concept as holding water in your hands and squeezing them shut. The water is naturally going to shoot out."

Even Gaara was taken aback by this basic principle as Neji hit the ground running toward him. "Your ultimate defense has a fatal flaw as well!" Neji exclaimed as he hurled two additional kunai toward Gaara.

"Ngh!" Gaara's sand naturally came up to defend him from the attack. Precisely as Neji anticipated.

"Two palms!"

"What?!" Gaara exclaimed as Neji appeared behind him, thrusting into his back with his Gentle Fist technique.

"Four palms!"

Gaara's sand was retreating from his front to defend his flank, but the recovery almost appeared to be in slow motion to Neji who was already in the midst of his attack.

"Eight palms! Sixteen palms! Thirty-two palms!"

The sand had finally positioned itself sufficiently to deflect the final sixty-four palms attack, but the damage had been done. Neji jumped back as the sand swiped toward him, but Gaara fell to his knees, coughing blood as his back crumbled.

"I…I can't believe it!" Baki's mouth dropped as he watched Gaara struggle to his feet. "Gaara…is actually on the defensive?!"

"How?" Gaara set his tired glare on Neji. "How did you breach my absolute defense?!"

"Just like my defense has a flaw, so does yours," Neji explained triumphantly. "Your sand responds to your subconscious thoughts. When you sense danger, it reacts to that. So simply put, if an attack is faster than your recognition of danger, you can't entirely defend against it."

"So those kunai you threw…"

"They were to block your vision and lower your guard momentarily so you wouldn't realize that your back was in danger. My Eight Trigrams Sixty-Four Palms moves at a speed you can't guard, particularly if you aren't expecting the attack. It looks like 32 hits is the best I can hope to land on someone like you though."

"You…" Gaara clenched his teeth together.

"Face it; it's over."

Gaara glared at Neji before he began to laugh, a very wheezy laugh. The very sound itself sent a chill down the spines of everyone who heard it, like listening to a psychopath who had finally lost the last remnants of his sanity.

"It is over…for you!"

Gaara slammed his hand into the ground. Initially, nothing happened. A slow rumbling began to echo throughout the stadium, however, as cracks suddenly appeared in the stadium floor.

"This…!" The Third Hokage stood up from his seat alarmed. The Kazekage shook his head exasperated.

"I apologize for this, Lord Hokage…Gaara has gone beyond even my expectations with this."

Spectators jumped up from their seats and screamed alarmed as an earthquake opened cracks in the ground and dismembered parts of the stadium wall. Neji looked around him, almost mesmerized as the world around him fell into this rift in the Earth.

"What the hell…"

"Die, Hyūga!"

As the ground beneath Neji opened up, he realized alarmed what was about to happen. A shadow fell over him, and looking up, he saw a large sheet of sand crashing down on him. He closed his eyes and shook his head in defeat.

"Damn you, Gaara of the Sand…"

With these last words, Neji's body dropped through the shattered world. Hinata's scream was audible even above the numerous members of the panicked crowd.

"BROTHER NEJI!"

Winner: Gaara

Author's Note: I know it's been a while since the last chapter…nearly a year in fact. There has been a LOT of stuff going on in my life that had drained me of motivation to write. A close friend died, my father died, I've got two jobs and volunteer service every week, and I'm still trying to make time just to enjoy being alive. As I've said numerous times though, I WILL finish this fic. I'm glad that I finally took care of the "Absolute Defense" fight that everyone always wished they would have covered in the anime. Hope you guys liked my interpretation of the matchup. Next up: Naruto vs. Sasuke!

Crow