Before the test, Naruto had debated whether he would intervene or not. In his mind, it always came down to whether sparing him some pain now will help his future, or hurt him in some way Naru-nii couldn't predict. After all, Naru-nii explained that Lee eventually makes a full recovery. In the end, he decided to leave the choice with the person who knows him best; Guy-sensei.
To everyone's grand amazement and awe, Lee's fight against Gaara was the most astonishing testament to guts they've ever seen.
His disadvantages, the weights, the speed, the strength of the inner gates, it was pivotal; no moment more so than when Gaara's sand seized Lee's left arm and leg, however, before the future can repeat itself as Naru-nii had described, Guy-sensei leaps like a cannonball shot out of a cannon and blows away the crippling sand, staring menacingly at an unstable Gaara.
The match is called in Gaara's favor due to outside interference, and though Lee wanted to argue, he could hardly stand without great exertion. Naruto knows Lee feels deprived by his sensei's intervention, but Guy whispers something to his student, who glumly nods before passing out.
Gaara may have beaten Lee, but for his guts, inner gates, and raw tenacity, everyone gained a new appreciation for the black bobbed genin.
For the last match, Naruto thinks as he watches the boy struggle to get up, 'what's important is you tried your best, Chōji.'
"If you look at the scoreboard," Hayate begins to explain to the remaining genin. "You will see your match in the final task of the exam."
The board reads Naruto and his opponent Gaara, Neji and his opponent Hinata, Shino and his opponent Kankurō, Temari and her opponent Shikamaru, and lastly, Dosu and his opponent Kiba.
With the Hokage and the Jōnin-sensei behind the sickly proctor, he announces, to the candidates, "you all have a month to prepare as best you can for your matches. Good luck," he finishes before Ji-chan dismisses them.
GAARA
After being dismissed, Gaara watches the blond try to approach him with a smile that eerily reminds him of Yashamura, to which he feels a searing pain on his forehead. Rather than face him, rather than kill him, Gaara's sand flows around him before he shunshins away and the voice in his head laughs at his weakness; that he would flee rather than kill. Gaara becomes more agitated with every second.
Kankurō swallows audibly before asking, "uh, what did you have in mind?"
Recalling an unsavory comment she made earlier, Gaara eyes his eldest blood-sack like a tool rather than a human being—much less family—and demands of her, "you will gain his loyalty and complete trust."
She's unsure of what her little brother means, but rather than question the directive, she assures him, "...he won't trust me."
"We only have a month before the third test," Kankurō remarks. "That's not enough time to establish that level of trust-"
"Don't bother me with how you do it. Your only value is to see this done," Gaara coldly tells her. "Use your heart, your mind, your body to manipulate him. I don't care what you do or how degrading it is, so long as he completely trusts you."
Aghast by what he was asking, Temari couldn't keep her silence and questions, "why?"
Recalling images of Yashamaru looking at him, smiling at him, as he conveys how his mother always hated him sparks a pang of pain in Gaara's head. Wincing as he grips at his love-tattooed skull, the huffing redhead declares, "the moment his trust—his heart—shatters upon witnessing your betrayal, I will kill him. And with his dying breath, he will know love is the worst death of all."
"You can't make her do this," Kankurō yells.
"I don't think anything of either of you," Gaara coldly informs them. "If you get in my way, I will kill you."
"Gaara, stop this," Temari tries. "We're family-"
From within the gourd, they can hear the sand whirling around, as if agitated, and his cold blue eyes say as much as his voice relays. "Family? You're just lumps of meat linked by hatred and murderous intent. I am alone. I won't believe in anyone, I won't love anyone, and you will do this or you have no further value to me...