"Guy, you bastard… No matter how you look at it, a technique like that shouldn't be taught to shinobi their age, should it?" Kakashi said to Might Guy. As he spoke, his expression revealed deep incomprehension. Guy should not have been the kind of person to force a child's growth like that.
Of course, Kakashi did not mean that Guy should never have taught Rock Lee the Eight Gates. Rather, he should not have taught it to this extent. After all, this little guy had now opened four gates in succession.
If Lee had only opened up to the Third Gate, the Gate of Life, Kakashi would not have had this attitude. Although the first three gates also placed no small burden on the user's body, in every sense, they were still within the safe zone of the Eight Gates.
But the Fourth Gate, the Gate of Pain, was different. The Gate of Pain was called the Gate of Pain because after this gate was opened, the user's physical abilities would be further strengthened beyond their limits. Strength, speed, and destructive power would all receive another substantial increase. Starting from this gate, the Eight Gates truly became the Eight Gates.
However, all these "improvements" came at the cost of damage to the user's body.
The longer the technique was maintained, the greater the damage it caused.
From this point on, whether to the enemy or to the user himself, the Eight Gates became an extremely dangerous technique.
Right now, Lee's entire body was surrounded—or rather, violently surged around—by intense chakra. At the same time, because of the high-speed flow of chakra and the extreme activation of his body, his skin had begun to darken, while his eyes had turned a blazing white… No matter how one looked at it, this counted as an abnormal state. The changes produced by the Eight Gates were the body's reaction to being unable to fully adapt to that condition.
It was precisely because of these negative effects that Kakashi's tone toward Guy carried a faint accusation. With this kind of risk and burden, it looked irresponsible toward a student no matter how one viewed it.
But that accusation should not have stood.
Compared to Kakashi, Hagoromo would not say much about Guy's choice, because he did not understand the exact circumstances involved. Therefore, he would not simply judge it as right or wrong.
This was similar to how he had used Lightning Release stimulation on Mirai and Naruto from a very young age. Anyone who did not understand the situation would only think he was abusing children.
Only Hagoromo himself knew it was not like that.
"Just watch, Kakashi. Since I did this, I naturally have my reasons," Guy replied to Kakashi with a serious attitude, a rare shift from his usual clownish behavior.
Of course Guy understood that the Eight Gates should not be taught to Lee too early. He had personally gone through similar experiences and knew what kind of pain this technique would bring. But Kakashi's attitude, which seemed caring yet was actually accusatory, was not quite appropriate.
Because Kakashi simply would not understand what taijutsu meant to a shinobi like Lee.
Lee could only use taijutsu. Without taijutsu, he had nothing. So, if he wanted to become an outstanding shinobi, the Eight Gates was practically the only viable path available to him.
That was why Guy's choice was correct—at least, Guy himself believed so.
At this moment, Kakashi also realized that his attitude just now seemed a little like criticizing from a position of comfort, so he temporarily fell silent.
He would ask for the details later.
...
"My speed will keep getting faster from here on, and the power of my moves will no longer be on the same level as before. Please prepare yourself."
In the battlefield, Lee said this to Kimimaro.
Faced with the situation before him, he could use the trump card known as the Eight Gates. This was something Lee had been promised beforehand.
Before the exam began, Guy had once told him that if he encountered a member of Team Six in battle, he would be given the chance to use the forbidden technique. At the time, Lee had not quite understood why his teacher would make such a decision. After all, the Eight Gates was a technique whose scope of use was strictly limited, and a mere contest between shinobi of the same village clearly should not have been a situation where it could be used.
Only after witnessing Kimimaro's strength did Lee understand what Guy-sensei had meant.
His opponent was very strong. If Lee wanted to win, he had no choice but to go all out. And so, he decisively chose to open four gates in succession, seeking to end the battle quickly while in his best state.
As for Lee's warning, Kimimaro merely nodded to show that he had heard. He did not say anything else. It was difficult to see any new change in expression on his face, but in truth, he had already become highly alert.
Of course, his own speed could still be increased, but it was impossible for it to reach the level of the Eight Gates. In his current state, he probably could not keep up with Lee in terms of "absolute speed."
But no matter how strong the Eight Gates was, he had to try facing it first before he could know.
So, against Lee in this state, Kimimaro not only did not choose to evade, but instead adopted an even more proactive offensive approach.
Behind him was the wall he had just heavily damaged, while Lee stood directly in front of him.
Then Kimimaro dragged Hiramekarei and charged straight at Lee in his Four Gates state. Once he entered his own attack range, he swung his blade without hesitation.
This attack was different from his previous ones.
It had to be said that only now, when Hiramekarei was used in Kimimaro's hands, did it finally have the feeling of a "sword" rather than a hammer. Because this strike was swift and light, it was obvious that this attack prioritized speed over power. It was like a draw slash.
Using such a heavy ninja tool to perform this kind of attack was undoubtedly far more technical and difficult than simply smashing around wildly.
However, before this swift strike could hit Lee, Kimimaro suddenly discovered that his opponent had vanished from before his eyes.
At that instant, Kimimaro's feeling was: as expected of the Eight Gates.
Just as Lee himself had said, his speed now could not be compared to before.
But Kimimaro still knew where Lee was.
When the strike missed, Kimimaro rapidly stopped his steps. Even the move that had only been swung halfway was forcibly halted by him. He stopped, changed his move, and spun around in quick succession, then slashed upward from below toward his own back.
Lee was indeed behind him!
Yet even this sudden and fluid chain of movements was not effective. At this moment, in Lee's vision, Kimimaro's attack seemed to have slowed down, to the point that he could even dodge it calmly.
Lee shifted his body sideways, avoiding Hiramekarei's path. Not only that, immediately afterward, he kicked along the direction of Hiramekarei's movement with extreme speed and tremendous force.
At that moment, Kimimaro's heavy weapon was actually knocked from his hands.
Hiramekarei spun rapidly into the air on an upward diagonal trajectory, and its form quickly enlarged in the eyes of Kakashi, who had been standing slightly farther forward.
Faced with this unexpected disaster, Kakashi calmly chose to dodge aside. As a result, Hagoromo, who was standing slightly behind him, became the one directly in its path.
Damn you, couldn't you just catch it?
Hagoromo lightly rose onto his toes, then reached out with one hand and scooped toward the air, grabbing the weapon's handle. The blade, still carrying enormous momentum, obediently turned in his hand. Then, with a thunderous boom, Hiramekarei was stabbed straight into the second-floor floorboards, half its blade sinking into them.
But at this moment, none of the spectators cared about Hagoromo's action, because they all realized that the fight had reached the moment where victory would be decided.
After knocking away Kimimaro's weapon, Lee began circling him at high speed. Once he used the bandages on both his hands to restrict Kimimaro's movements to a certain degree, Lee finally unleashed his ultimate attack.
There was no doubt about it. He intended to decide the winner with this move:
Eight Gates: Reverse Lotus.
Ordinary opponents facing this move could only choose to dodge. But dodging would not work at all, because Lee was faster.
However, something happened that neither Lee nor Guy had imagined.
Kimimaro did not dodge or retreat at all. He actually used one hand to take the punch head-on. Even more unbelievable was the fact that he caught it.
At this moment, Kimimaro's fingers were as pale as bone. Immediately afterward, Lee discovered that not only had his fist been caught, he could not even pull his arm back.
What was even more unbelievable was that from Kimimaro's knees, shoulders, elbows, and finally even his palms, bone spikes as sharp as blades began growing out one after another!
Disarming Kimimaro had absolutely not been a good choice.
Because at this moment, he had officially changed jobs from a rampaging berserker into an incomparably light and agile ranger.
What everyone was about to witness next could probably be regarded as an elven sword dance…
Shikotsumyaku: Dance of the Willow.
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