No one really understood how Suigetsu's liquefying ability worked.
In other words, no one knew when he would turn into water and when he wouldn't.
So the only way to beat him was speed—the faster the attack, the higher the chance of catching a weakness in his technique.
They needed a rapid, nonstop combo to actually land a solid hit on Suigetsu.
"He was wearing heavy weights on his legs this whole time?!"
Hozuki Mangetsu looked thoughtfully at Lee, who was standing on a nearby building, taking off the weights from his legs.
"His speed was already impressive earlier. If he's getting serious now, Suigetsu might not be able to beat him."
Even though Suigetsu had deadly skills and wasn't afraid to kill, he had mostly been goofing off during the exams.
He left the scroll out on purpose to attract more opponents, and barely put in any effort during team fights.
Suigetsu never treated these people like enemies. To him, they were just other students taking the same exam.
There were several chances to end the fight quickly, but he kept dragging it out.
Now that the other guy was getting serious, if Suigetsu didn't treat him as a real opponent, losing in the prelims would be no surprise at all.
"Don't be too disappointed in your little brother~"
Hatake Satoru smirked and looked down at Suigetsu, who still seemed relaxed and in control.
If Suigetsu really got beaten by a genin, Satoru would seriously start questioning the quality of Kirigakure's so-called assassination missions.
Don't mess this up, Suigetsu. If you lose, you'll be the laughingstock of Kirigakure.
Lee finished removing the two rows of weights from his legs and casually tossed them to the ground.
They didn't look like much, but the second they hit the floor, they left two deep craters in the ground.
"Seriously? These things weigh that much?"
Kakashi raised an eyebrow, surprised by the puff of smoke that shot up.
He had been about to joke that the weights were just for show, but the impact alone shut him up.
To be honest, he didn't really understand this kind of training. None of the kids under him had ever focused much on taijutsu.
"Heh."
From the student area, Guy heard the noise and flashed a big, toothy grin at Kakashi.
What a hard-to-handle, hot-blooded idiot.
Hatake Satoru and Kakashi turned their eyes back to the field.
Back when they were kids, Satoru had fought Guy a few times. Of course, back then, Satoru and Kakashi could beat just about anyone without breaking a sweat.
But they eventually went down different paths. Satoru drifted away while Guy stuck to chasing after Kakashi.
"This time, I'm definitely hitting you!"
With full confidence, Lee dashed through the smoke and dove down toward the puddle where Suigetsu was hiding, throwing a punch straight at it.
His goal wasn't to hit Suigetsu directly—it was to force him out of the water!
If he couldn't hide in the water, he couldn't escape anymore.
Lee threw punch after punch at the ground, no strategy or pattern, just raw instinct—if there was water, he hit it.
There wasn't much water to begin with, and what little there was got scattered in all directions under Lee's attacks. Suigetsu couldn't even find a chance to come up for air.
"What the hell? Why did he get so fast all of a sudden?"
This speed was almost on the same level as Haku's inside the mirrors. What kind of monster is this?
As soon as Suigetsu's shadow showed itself in the water, Lee's punch sent water flying in every direction.
It nearly landed right on his head.
With his heart racing, Suigetsu clenched his teeth and sprang out of the water, dodging to the side at top speed.
"Don't even think about running!"
Seeing that Suigetsu had finally come out of hiding, Lee shot forward and jumped up, aiming a powerful kick at him.
"Water Gun Jutsu!"
Suigetsu formed his hand into the shape of a gun and fired a water bullet straight at Lee's face.
Lee kicked at Suigetsu while tilting his head at the same time, lowering his body just enough so that the water bullet only grazed his cheek and left a thin cut.
He dodged it…
Suigetsu frowned, feeling a chill in his heart.
Even at this speed, Lee could still avoid it. If he was going to fire again, he had to lock him down first.
Before Suigetsu Hozuki could think of a plan, Lee flew in and kicked him hard.
It was a solid hit—real contact, not like hitting a puddle of water.
"Boom!!!"
With a loud crash, dust exploded everywhere across the battlefield.
Suigetsu was slammed into the wall, with pieces of rock falling around him.
"Got him!"
Lee jumped up excitedly—finally he managed to hit this squishy, water-like guy.
Even though he knew Suigetsu's ability was probably a bad match for his own,
He landed a clean hit! If he could figure out the pattern, landing another hit wouldn't be far off.
"What the hell is he doing…"
Kimimaro looked annoyed as he stared at Suigetsu stuck in the wall. Getting knocked away by the enemy like that—this guy really went and did it.
He didn't care about Kirigakure Village's reputation or anything, he just couldn't stand watching Suigetsu getting beat down for underestimating his opponent.
"Ouch… he really hit me that hard…"
Suigetsu's voice came from the cloud of dust. Judging from his tone, the hit didn't do any real damage.
Right before slamming into the wall, Suigetsu had liquefied the lower half of his body. Even though he still got hit, turning into water softened the blow a lot.
"Water Gun: Twin Shot."
Suigetsu's face popped out from the dust, and several water bullets fired rapidly, bursting through the air.
Since he couldn't learn Mangetsu's quick-strike line technique, Suigetsu had instead pushed the water gun technique to a new level.
A few water bullets shot out several times faster than the ones before.
They came in tight clusters. As they brushed past Lee, they slowed down and splashed onto the ground, turning into puddles.
Before Lee could even look down, Suigetsu suddenly burst out from one of the puddles, kunai in hand, and grabbed Lee's ankle in one swift move.
"Eh?!"
Lee yanked his leg upward on reflex, pulling Suigetsu out of the water in an upside-down position.
Suigetsu planted one foot on Lee's shoulder and kicked off hard, flipping through the air.
With arms powered up by Hydrification Strength Technique, he clamped down tightly on Lee. At that moment, Suigetsu was basically hanging in midair, wrapped around Lee like a vine.
He held a kunai to Lee's neck.
"Water sticks to you easily. Never ignore what's under your feet."
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