Kakuzu looked irritated, but said nothing more.
"What's going on? What's Rock Lee doing?"
Ino and Sakura, who had also returned from visiting Sasuke (after he had chased them away), looked curiously at the scene in the arena and asked Shikamaru.
"..." Shikamaru fell silent for a moment, then folded his hands behind his head. "Just watch. Things are about to get ridiculous."
"Huh?"
Quite a few spectators were just as confused.
Down in the arena, Rock Lee unstrapped a stack of weights from his legs, then removed the forehead protector around his waist and pulled several pitch-black weights out of it.
Next, he took off both wrist guards and pulled several shuriken out of his Ninja Tool Pouch.
"Hey, hey, do shuriken count as weights too?"
Genma Shiranui couldn't help commenting.
Or is this kid really that sneaky? Is he deliberately provoking his opponent, wearing down his patience?
By now, Kakuzu's expression had gone from impatient to looking as though he wanted to devour someone.
"Kid, are you messing with me?"
"Ah, thanks for reminding me!"
Rock Lee paused, then looked as though he had nearly forgotten something. With a chuckle, he also removed the ninja tool pouch strapped to his leg.
"..."
"..."
Kakuzu and the referee were both speechless.
"All right! That should do it!"
Rock Lee let out a long breath, holding the pile of equipment with an expression that suggested he felt considerably lighter.
Gekko Hayate stepped forward and held out his hand. "Want me to hold those for you?"
"Huh? No, no, I've kept everyone waiting long enough!"
Rock Lee glanced at Gekko Hayate and hurriedly shook his head. "None of this breaks easily. Just a second, I'll put it off to the side..."
"Just drop it there!"
Kakuzu finally lost patience. "Nobody's going