Episode Summaries

As the fight between Sasuke and Gaara commences, Kakashi apologises to Sakura for worrying her by being late. He then remarks to Guy about the Anbu presence in the stadium, Konoha not knowing when they will be attacked. Naruto realises how dangerous Gaara is and the only person who can currently satisfy his blood-lust is Sasuke. At the same moment, Sasuke begins attacking Gaara fast enough to bypass his Shield of Sand, oddly reminiscent of Lee's fighting style.

Kakashi explains that, having seen Lee’s taijutsu before with his Sharingan, they had been training this last month to produce the same speed. Lee knows from prior experience that speed is not enough to defeat Gaara, but Guy recognises it must serve some other purpose. After continuously being pummelled by Sasuke, Gaara retreats into a Shield of Sand shaped into a sphere to give himself time to transform. Sasuke is unable to break through this defence with speed alone, and Naruto and Shikamaru both reflect on how Gaara thinks his point is to kill others. They decide that if the match continues, Sasuke will die, and rush upstairs to tell Kakashi. He tells them not to worry, promising there was a good reason for why they were late.