A few small incidents really had happened.
But only two people were affected by them.
Hiruzen Sarutobi, who now had a headache.
And Naruto Uzumaki, who was completely dumbfounded.
Down in the arena, Karin and Lee stepped into their respective positions.
"Then, begin the match," Hayate Gekko announced.
Lee lowered his body and shot forward like an arrow released from a bow. His speed was terrifying, kicking up a fierce gust of wind.
From the second-floor viewing area, Might Guy gripped the railing tightly, anticipation filling his eyes.
He knew better than anyone how frightening Lee's speed was.
Behind her glasses, Karin narrowed her eyes as the Kagura Mind's Eye expanded to its limit.
The flow of chakra inside Lee's body beca perfectly clear to her.
The rhythm of his muscle contractions, the subtle shifts in his center of gravity, even the direction of force behind his next movent, all of it was reflected in her mind.
"Right leg moves first. Left punch is a feint. The real attack is the right elbow.", Karin muttered softly and shifted sideways half a second in advance.
Lee's left fist brushed past her body. The right elbow followed imdiately after, but struck nothing but air.
A flicker of surprise crossed his eyes.
Karin's predictions were accurate enough to make one's skin crawl.
Lee spun, his right leg whipping toward Karin's waist like a steel lash.
This strike was even faster and more vicious, explosive strength bursting from the muscles in his leg.
But Karin had already predicted it and lightly leaped backward to avoid it.
Her red ponytail traced a graceful arc through the air. When she landed, her steps were light and her breathing steady.
"Fifteen percent faster than I estimated," Karin analyzed while retreating, shock flashing through her eyes. "And there's only a 0.3 second gap between attacks."
Just dodging was already this difficult. She absolutely could not engage him in taijutsu directly.
The person standing before her was a true taijutsu master.
As Karin widened the distance, her hands rapidly ford seals and chakra surged through her body.
Lee charged in again without hesitation.
"Sealing Technique: Four Limbs Heavy Seal!"
Four miniature sealing arrays condensed in the air and stamped themselves precisely onto the joints of Lee's limbs.
Lee instantly felt his arms and legs grow heavy, as though invisible weights had been fastened onto them.
Every movent now required several tis more effort.
Grinding his teeth, he tried to force through it. His muscles bulged and veins rose across his forehead.
But the sealing power held him firmly in place.
Lee looked toward Might Guy on the second floor, and Guy responded with a thumbs-up.
"Go, Lee! Let your youth bloom!"
Lee nodded fiercely. "Yes! Guy-sensei!!"
Unfortunately, this was a battle. In his sealed state, he had no room for things like this.
And Karin was not the kind of fighter Gaara was, soone who enjoyed watching opponents exhaust themselves in hopeless struggle.
While Lee and Guy were exchanging words, Karin had already closed the distance and lightly tapped a finger against his chest.
"This is the end."
Chakra flowed directly into his body. Lee's entire chakra pathway system went numb, and he collapsed stiffly onto the ground.
Hayate Gekko's voice rang out, "The winner: Karin Uzumaki."
The fight was over.
"Waaahhh!" Might Guy burst into tears on the spot. "Lee, your teacher should've reminded you not to lose focus during battle!"
Lee also began bawling. "Waaahhh! Guy-sensei, I'll learn from this lesson! I'll do ten thousand push-ups right now! If I can't finish them, then...!"
Karin turned away, unwilling to look at such an absurd scene, and headed up the stairs.
"Nicely done." Kyoshin looked at Karin as she skipped happily toward him.
The mont she received Kyoshin's praise, a bright smile imdiately blood across her face.
Might Guy also carried Lee back upstairs. Neji activated his Byakugan to inspect Lee's chakra points, and his pupils contracted slightly.
This thod was actually quite similar to the Hyuga clan's techniques.
But without the Byakugan, how had she achieved such precise accuracy?
As Neji helped unblock Lee's chakra points, he pondered silently, 'Could it be so kind of advanced sensory ninjutsu?'
Nearby, Hiruzen Sarutobi, who had finally recovered sowhat from his headache, sighed with emotion, "Iwagakure truly knows how to gather talented people from all over."
As he said this, the feeling in his heart was anything but pleasant.
Once upon a ti, the relationship between the Uzumaki clan and Konoha could only be described as inseparable.
"We rely provide a real ho for those who need one," Onoki replied with hidden aning in his words. Then he casually returned the flattery. "Isn't Konoha the sa?"
It was a jab at what had once happened between Konoha and the Uchiha.
But Onoki had done such an excellent job concealing information about Kyoshin that Hiruzen still had no idea Kinzuchi was Kyoshin. He completely failed to understand the implication behind those words.
Below them, Hayate Gekko glanced at the screen.
"The next match: Kinzuchi vs Sasuke Uchiha."
Kyoshin lifted his head and glanced at Sasuke not far away. Sasuke happened to look back at him.
"S-Sasuke..." Sakura Haruno quietly warned him. "Maybe you should just forget it."
Sasuke frowned and ignored Sakura completely.
'What did she an, forget it?'
He was soone carrying a mission on his shoulders. His blood-soaked vendetta still remained unresolved. How could he retreat without fighting simply because the enemy was strong?
"Let see your true strength," Sasuke said to Kyoshin before turning and walking into the arena.
Earlier, when Kyoshin sparred with Orochimaru, both Naruto and Sasuke had already fallen unconscious.
At this point, the kid still had no idea what kind of monster he was facing.
Soon, both sides took their positions.
Sasuke struck first, throwing three shuriken in a triangular formation toward Kyoshin.
The angles were vicious, sealing off every possible escape route.
At the mont of release, his Sharingan had already locked onto Kyoshin's potential movents. This was a perfectly calculated attack.
Kyoshin flipped his right hand, three shuriken suddenly appearing between his fingers. With a casual flick of his wrist, his attack sohow moved later despite being released later, tracing three silver streaks through the air.
Three sharp clangs rang out almost simultaneously.
Sasuke's shuriken were knocked away with perfect precision, yet Kyoshin's kunai continued flying straight toward him without losing montum.
Sasuke hurriedly pulled out a kunai and blocked three tis in succession, barely managing to stop them.
The opponent's skill with projectiles vastly surpassed his own.
Sasuke clenched his teeth and rapidly ford hand seals. Chakra gathered in his throat.
"Fire Style: Great Fireball Technique!"
A massive fireball roared forward, over three ters wide. Heat waves swept across the arena, and the air itself warped from the temperature.
Kyoshin ford seals as well, even faster than Sasuke. His movents were refined to the extre.
The sa jutsu.
Yet Kyoshin's fireball ford instantly, over five ters in diater, darker in color, and far hotter.
The two fireballs collided midair, but Kyoshin's attack completely devoured Sasuke's fireball with overwhelming force.
The enormous fireball continued forward without slowing, crashing down toward Sasuke as scorching heat blasted against his face.
Sasuke rolled desperately to the side.
The edge of his clothes brushed against the intense heat and instantly blackened and curled.
He gritted his teeth and stood back up, his Sharingan spinning wildly.
"How is this possible...? It's the sa jutsu, so why is the gap this huge?" unwillingness surged through Sasuke's heart.
He charged forward, fully unleashing the taijutsu he had copied from Lee with his Sharingan.
His fists and kicks beca afterimages, his assault pouring down like a violent storm.
Kyoshin didn't even move from where he stood. He casually raised one hand, blocked two strikes, then smoothly seized Sasuke's wrist, twisted it upward, and hooked his leg out beneath him.
The entire exchange looked less like a fight and more like an adult casually playing with a child.
Sasuke lost his balance and stumbled behind Kyoshin.
Supporting himself on the ground, he turned his head and saw Kyoshin slowly turning around as well. The cold Anbu mask faced him directly, yet no attack followed.
'Why...'
Bitterness filled Sasuke's heart.
He had already trained so hard.
Yet against soone his own age, he was completely powerless.
anwhile, Kyoshin was observing Sasuke and thinking to himself: His emotions are fluctuating this much... he's not going to evolve his Sharingan because of this, is he?
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