Chapter 52 Preliminaries

Konoha.

Death Forest Tower.

At the arena,

"This is his seventh time, he quitted again"

"Is he doing it on purpose?"

Kabuto, suddenly giving up, heated up a discussion as smart guys like Shikamaru immediately guessed that something was wrong.

"With his strength, he can easily pass the exam; he's clearly faking it"

Sasuke, who had seen the reflexes of Kabuto earlier, immediately concluded that Kabuto was failing the exam on purpose.

"Un."

Hearing his words, the other Konoha Rookies nodded, but they didn't care much as they hardly knew him before the start of the exam.

"The contestant whose name appears on the screen will stay here; the rest, please go to the stands."

Said Hayate to the Genin as everyone's focus was immediately on the screen on which names kept flickering, and finally, two names appeared.

"Rock Lee vs Gojo Satoru"

"Oh~ I'm first"

Seeing his name, Gojo was surprised, but his opponent's name surprised him even more.

"Satoru Kun, our fated match, is finally here."

Lee, who saw the name of Gojo, was ecstatic and shouted while looking at Gojo, tears running down.

"Hmm~ this is going to be interesting."

Sarutobi in the stands looked at Gojo and Lee with interest in his eyes; he had heard about the deeds of Gojo, like killing three subordinates of Orochimaru.

Still, he never saw his strength with his own eyes, making him look forward to this match.

"Gojo Satoru and Rock Lee, stay in the arena; the rest, please leave the battle arena"

Hayate quickly got the battle arena empty as everyone went to the stands leaving only Gojo, Lee, and Hayate.

"Satoru!!!, Lee!!!, no matter who wins, I will always be proud of you, so don't hold back and enjoy your youth to the fullest"

When Hayate was about to start the fight, Guy standing with Kakashi shouted, waving his fists and encouraging them.

"Hehe~ I have never seen Satoru fighting; I wonder whether he is strong enough to beat me"

Naruto standing with the Konoha Rookies, looked at Gojo and Lee standing below, with interest in his eyes.

"Ignorance is bliss"

Shikamaru, Sasuke, or Sakura all had the same thought, as they had seen a glimpse of Gojo's strength.

"He won't hurt his teammate, right?"

Shikamaru had no doubt about the win of Gojo, but he wondered whether he would leave Lee intact.

"Satoru Kun, you are the first person after Guy Sensei who believed I could become a Shinobi just with Taijutsu"

"I don't want to betray your trust, so here I will fight you with my all strength, so I hope you don't hold back"

Standing before Gojo, Lee got emotional as he remembered all that painful training with Gojo on the Hokage mountain.

Gojo was one of the few who acknowledged him; he wants to show him now that he didn't slack off and really became strong enough.

Bang!!!

Everyone saw Lee squatting as he folded his green trousers up a little, and metal objects clinging to his ankles appeared.

"Weights"

"BANG!!"

Everyone had the same thought as more or less every Shinobi trained with Weights, so they weren't much surprised.

But the moment Lee dropped those weights from his hands, a large sound spread all around.

The ground on which the Weight fell cracked as dust rolled up as everyone took a deep breath and looked at Lee like they were looking at a monster.

"What's with this squad? Everyone's a monster"

Temari seeing what happened, couldn't help but say so, as after Gojo, she wasn't expecting another monster.

"Hmm~ It seems you are really pumped up, Lee."

Said Gojo with a grin plastered on his face looking at Lee jumping up and down, getting used to his current body.

"Of course, I have always waited for this moment"

Lee responded with a smile revealing two rows of shining white teeth.

"The match will only end if the other party concedes or dies though I can stop the match depending on the situation"

Un.

"Very well, Start!!"

Hayate told the rules as Gojo and Lee nodded in understanding, and Hayate, without wasting any more time, started the match.

*Well~ let me give you a handicap*

Seeing Lee ready to pounce on him, Gojo decided to suppress his strength a little after thinking for a while.

He can end this in one second if he wants, but Gojo naturally won't do this.

He knows how much Lee has trained; if he defeats him in one blow, the fragile heart of Lee might not be able to withstand the shock.

Gojo closed his eyes under the blindfold as the space around him suddenly trembled for a moment before returning to normal.

"Now show me your progress, Lee.*

Thought Gojo looking at Lee as he had just removed the protection of Infinity around him, giving Lee a chance to land his blows