"Kakashi-senpai... when are you going to change this bad habit of yours of always being late, huh?! Don't you know, if you hadn't brought Uchiha Sasuke here a few seconds ago, I might have been 'warmly welcomed' and pelted with various objects by these angry spectators?!"
Kakashi didn't feel at all that he was late.
On the contrary, he greeted Genma Shiranui with a friendly smile and a wave of his hand:
"Hey, Genma! Long time no see! So, Sasuke's qualification to participate in this competition hasn't been disqualified, right? It hasn't, right?"
Genma Shiranui's face immediately froze upon hearing Kakashi's seemingly innocent question. Then he could only sigh softly in resignation:
"No... not yet. If you had been just three seconds later, then it really would have happened."
"Well, now it's time for him to compete against that Sand Ninja, Sabaku no Gaara, right?" said Shiranui Genma, returning to his referee mode.
"Now that both of you are here, you must prepare immediately. The match will begin shortly."
"Okay." Sasuke nodded without the slightest hesitation.
He paid no more attention to Kakashi and immediately turned to face Gaara, who had been standing silently not far from him, looking at him with a cold, unreadable gaze.
"Sorry to have kept you waiting."
Gaara's facial expression didn't change much, still calm and cold as usual:
"Hurry up and let's begin... I can't wait any longer to offer you to my mother."
Sasuke just lifted one corner of his lips, forming a thin, confident smile.
A burning fighting spirit was now clearly visible in his dark black eyes. He was ready.
Kakashi then left the competition field, joining the other Jōnin in the stands.
Shiranui Genma now looked intently at the two Genin standing facing each other and raised his right hand high:
"Alright! We will now begin the second match of this Chunin Exam final round! From Konoha Village, Uchiha Sasuke! Against... from the Hidden Sand Village, Sabaku no Gaara! Match... begin!"
With a soft "pop~" that was almost inaudible, the wooden stopper attached to the mouth of Gaara's giant sand gourd suddenly opened by itself.
It was as if an endless stream of yellow sand slowly but surely began to flow out from within the gourd and fall onto the arena ground, or more precisely, the sand was like spilled water that slowly began to spread across the ground surface, surrounding Gaara.
Sasuke watched this scene without any change in the faint smile on his face, but a second later, his figure suddenly disappeared from where he stood.
Gaara's usually calm pupils constricted slightly, and he quickly turned his head to the right reflexively, sensing Sasuke's movement.
However, what he saw was only Sasuke's figure now about a meter to his right.
Sasuke then unhesitatingly lifted his leg and launched a fast and powerful side kick towards Gaara.
Gaara's invincible sand shield automatically flew up and formed a thick barrier to block Sasuke's kick.
But the next second, Sasuke disappeared from Gaara's sight again, then suddenly reappeared on his left, and then his next kick was again successfully blocked by Gaara's automatic sand shield.
Gaara could only remain silent: "..."
If Gaara had more normal emotions and could express them, he probably wouldn't be able to say anything but curse right now.
Why were all his opponents in this exam close-range attackers with super high speed like this?
Rock Lee, whom he faced last time, was the same.
After that thick-eyebrowed brat released his weights and opened several Hachimon gates, he kicked and thrashed Gaara himself like a beach volleyball.
If his Armor Sand hadn't automatically blocked it, he would have been severely injured at that time.
And this time it was even more astonishing.
This Uchiha person's movement speed seemed even slightly faster than Rock Lee in his normal condition (before opening the gates).
Of course, Sasuke's current speed would definitely not be as good or comparable to Rock Lee who had already opened several Hachimon Tōnkō.
But if compared to Rock Lee in his normal condition without opening the gates, Sasuke's current movement speed indeed felt slightly faster and more difficult to follow.
Might Guy, watching from the stands with the other Jōnin, saw this scene with an expression of disbelief:
"Is... is this what they call a true genius? Such speed... even without special training like Lee's..."
Kakashi, standing beside him, just looked at the "Icha-Icha" book in his hand and chuckled softly:
"He's just using lightning element chakra flow to stimulate the muscles throughout his body to achieve such super-high-speed movement. In terms of endurance and stamina, he definitely won't be as good as Rock Lee who focuses on physical training. But in terms of instantaneous speed and explosive power, his current speed might be slightly better than Rock Lee in his normal condition."
"Lightning Element to stimulate muscles?"
Guy was stunned for a moment hearing Kakashi's explanation, then he was truly shocked. He looked at Kakashi with an expression of disbelief.
"Kakashi! Don't tell me you... you gave him 'that' jutsu?! You're too reckless, Kakashi! That's a very dangerous jutsu!"
The power of Raikiri (or Chidori) was indeed very devastating and deadly.
But that jutsu was also very difficult to control.
If one couldn't control it well and accurately, the user themselves could be severely injured.
Therefore, Sasuke was always seen carrying a lot of bandages in his equipment bag, perhaps for emergency treatment if something happened.
"You have no right to say I'm reckless, Guy," Kakashi replied in a helpless tone, then he turned and looked at Sasuke who was still moving quickly in the arena.
"Chidori can only exert its full power and true accuracy if used under the dynamic vision of the Sharingan eye. This technique is actually very suitable for Sasuke, and he has the talent to master it."
Guy, the person who callously taught Rock Lee the forbidden Hachimon Tōnkō technique, actually didn't have much right to say anything about Kakashi's slightly risky training method.
After all, although Raikiri could easily injure its user if miscalculated, at least it wouldn't be immediately fatal in a single use.
Whereas the Eight Gates, if used up to the final gate, could kill its user if not careful or if their body wasn't strong enough.
Didn't you see Rock Lee still has to wear bandages all over his body until now due to his last fight?
If he couldn't find Lady Tsunade, one of the legendary Sannin who was an expert in medical ninjutsu, Rock Lee might never be able to be a ninja again for the rest of his life.
Thinking about Rock Lee's condition, Guy suddenly fell silent.
Even the wide smile and enthusiasm that usually always radiated from his face now faded slightly.
He sighed softly, a hint of sadness in his voice: "Rock Lee... he is the student I am most proud of."
"Sasuke is also my beloved student, Guy," Kakashi glanced briefly at Guy.
"The reason why I decided to teach him Raikiri is actually very simple. That reason... is actually the same as your reason for teaching Lee the Eight Gates technique."
"Ha, Kakashi, so you also have sentimental moments like that, I see." Guy laughed softly, speaking with a slightly strange and teasing meaning.
Kakashi just shrugged and didn't answer further.
After all, he knew exactly what Guy meant, and he also knew that it was indeed a bit irresponsible for him to do this now, teaching a jutsu as dangerous as Raikiri to a Genin whose emotions were still unstable like Sasuke's.
However, this was a direct request from his own student, and he felt he didn't have a strong enough reason not to agree, especially after seeing Sasuke's determination to become stronger for the sake of revenge.
In any case, compared to the philosophical debate between the two rival Jōnin in the stands, the situation on the competition field looked far more passionate and dangerous.
But it didn't matter.
Gaara didn't care much about things like philosophy or debates.
And Sasuke also didn't care much about such things at the moment.
At this time, they were both just staring at each other intensely.
One had a burning desire to kill the other for his 'mother'.
And the other had a strong desire to defeat the other to prove his own strength.
However, Gaara had to admit inwardly that this kind of super-fast-paced battle was indeed one of his biggest weaknesses.
The reaction speed of his sand to form a defense was not slow, but when compared to close-quarters combat against a physical-type ninja with super-high movement speed like this Sasuke, his sand often couldn't keep up perfectly.
Stronger and more deadly large-scale sand ninjutsu also required a slightly longer preparation time to gather and form the sand, and a clever opponent like Sasuke would surely never miss even the slightest opportunity to attack when he was off guard.
"Aaah!!" Gaara suddenly covered his forehead with both hands, a fierce and pained expression appearing on his pale face.
"Wait a moment, Mother... just a little longer... I'll kill him right now... right now... I'll offer this Uchiha's fresh blood to you soon..."
Sasuke, who continued to move at high speed to avoid Gaara's increasingly sporadic sand attacks, frowned while still moving:
'Although he doesn't seem to be able to attack me directly with his sand when I move this fast, this person is definitely not weak at all. His chakra reserve also seems to be very large. Using the lightning element to stimulate muscles like this cannot be maintained for too long. If I continue to fight this way, I'll just be dragged down to exhaustion and eventually die foolishly by this person's hand.'
The Lightning Element Sasuke used to increase his own movement speed actually used a rather complicated method and consumed a lot of chakra to achieve a speed almost equivalent to Rock Lee's.
And he also heavily relied on the dynamic vision ability of his Sharingan eyes to be able to use it effectively and safely.
He couldn't open the Hachimon gates like Rock Lee to get an instant surge of physical strength.
The longer he used the Lightning Element to stimulate his muscles, the more serious the side effects he would feel later, and eventually, he would lose his combat effectiveness due to muscle and chakra fatigue.