Gekko Hayate walked between the two and raised his hand, looking as listless as ever. "The second preliminary match... cough, cough... begins now!"
The instant he finished speaking, Sasuke and Zaku moved almost simultaneously!
Whoosh! Sasuke flicked his wrist, sending three coldly gleaming shuriken shooting out in a triangular formation. They sliced through the air toward Zaku Abumi's face, chest, and lower body at tricky angles and tremendous speed-a throwing technique clearly honed through countless repetitions. This was only a probe; he wanted to see just what this Sound Ninja relied on.
"Hmph, cheap tricks!" Zaku Abumi neither dodged nor ducked. He crossed his arms in front of himself, aiming the holes in his palms at the incoming shuriken. "Decapitating Airwaves!"
Bang! Bang! Bang! Three invisible blasts of compressed air erupted from his palms, striking the three shuriken with pinpoint accuracy. A piercing metallic clang rang out. The shuriken were not merely deflected-they shot back toward Sasuke even faster!
"Oh?" A sharp glint flashed through Sasuke's eyes. Pushing off with his feet, he slid several meters diagonally backward like a ghost, easily avoiding the rebounding shuriken. The instant he steadied himself, two tomoe slowly emerged and spun within his dark pupils, transforming in an instant into the scarlet Three-Tomoe Sharingan!
"The Sharingan!" someone in the spectator stands exclaimed under their breath.
The moment he activated his Sharingan, Zaku Abumi's movements became crystal clear to him. He could even see the slightest twitch of his opponent's muscles and the flow of his chakra.
"Interesting, but not enough!" Sasuke snapped. He pitched forward, his speed suddenly exploding as he became a blur racing toward Zaku Abumi, moving so fast that his actions were almost impossible to follow!
"Trying to get close? Naive!" Rather than panic, Zaku Abumi laughed. He flung his arms