Chương 104: So-called excellence is nothing more than striving to surpass predecessors!

"For a child of that age to be able to open the fifth gate of the Eight Gates Formation is truly a remarkable talent."

But given his physical condition, he probably can't hold on for long, right?

The Eight Gates Formation allows users to gain a surge of power in a short period of time, but this power comes at a price.

To use the Eight Gates Formation, in addition to needing a sufficiently strong physique, this technique will also cause excessive muscle fatigue and may even leave some unavoidable hidden injuries to the body.

Ninjas who are skilled in the Eight Gates technique generally do not have long lifespans, which is one of the reasons why this technique is listed as a forbidden technique.

"As long as we can still maintain the Du Gate, we can defeat Yang Cheng, right?"

"At least right now, no genin should be able to beat Rock Lee, right?"

Looking at Rock Lee's incredible speed on the field, which even he, a Jonin, could barely catch, Asuma had complete confidence in him.

After all, the current Rock Lee with the Du Gate would probably be defeated even by elite Chunin, let alone Genin!

"But don't forget, Yang Cheng also knows ninjutsu, but he has been using taijutsu since the start of the competition, which is why you overlooked that."

Red's reminder startled Asuma and the others, who looked at Yang Cheng on the field and secretly muttered, "This little monster is finally getting interesting. The warm-up is over, so now I'm going to get serious!"

Hearing Yang Cheng's self-talk, many people present thought he was just bragging and trying to appear calm.

However, the next second Yang Cheng's body, which had started to move, also disappeared from their sight. And as he continued to collide with Du Men Xiao Li, everyone present was shocked to discover that what Yang Cheng had said was true.

The strength he displayed earlier, which was clearly beyond the standard of a genin, was actually just a warm-up!

The second gate of the Eight Gates, the Gate of Rest, can restore a large amount of the user's physical strength. As for the fifth gate, the Gate of Block, the speed and explosive power it enhances allow Lee to achieve a very short period of airtime by stomping on the air beneath his feet.

"Shave the rabbit!"

Li, who had just reached the Du Gate, was already incredibly fast. Even with his normal movement speed, Yang Cheng couldn't keep up with him.

Therefore, at this moment, he also used the Six Styles as a countermeasure. With his feet stomping on the ground, Yang Cheng's figure also jumped and flashed multiple times while moving.

"Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!"

At this moment, most of the ninjas on the field could not see Yang Cheng, who had begun using the Six Powers, or Rock Lee, who had activated the Gate of Death.

However, the sonic booms that occasionally appeared in the air were enough to prove that the two were constantly colliding, but because they were moving too fast, others simply couldn't see them.

"Iron Block - Shatter!"

"Konoha Whirlwind!"

When Yang Cheng and Xiao Li reappeared in everyone's sight, the two had already completed a clash of moves in the center of the arena.

The moment their fists and feet collided, the ground beneath their feet cracked instantly, followed by an invisible shockwave that exploded between them.

Yang Cheng took a small half-step back, while Xiao Li slid backward several meters.

Seeing this result, Xiao Li was also very surprised, but he also knew very well that he could not hold on for long after he opened the Gate of Du, so he had to defeat Yang Cheng as soon as possible before he reached his limit!

With his feet pushing off the ground, the air beneath his feet exploded, and the enormous reaction force propelled Xiao Li's body forward once again to Yang Cheng's feet.

Li, who had moved closer, quickly clenched his fists and began to unleash a series of high-speed punches at Yang Cheng.

"Six Styles: Paper Drawing!"

However, to the onlookers, Xiao Li's rapidly swinging fists were so fast that they were almost just afterimages.

Faced with such a high-speed combo, Yang Cheng's body became as light as paper. With a slight sway of his body, he dodged all of Xiao Li's high-speed punches.

Despite seeing his attacks being constantly dodged, Li continued to throw punches at high speed, seemingly unconcerned.

However, Yang Cheng, with his amazing observation skills, noticed that under the continuous high-speed punches, the bandages wrapped around Xiao Li's hands had started to come undone at some point.

Lee himself was well aware that in order to unleash his strongest move, "Inner Lotus," he had to knock Yang Cheng into the air.

However, Yang Cheng's speed and reaction were no weaker than his own, so hitting Yang Cheng with "Shadow Dance Leaf" was not an easy task.

Therefore, Lee had to improvise "Inner Lotus" by choosing high-speed punches, using the bandages to restrict Yang Cheng's movements first, and then kicking the bandaged Yang Cheng into the air to complete the Inner Lotus attack.

However, Xiao Li probably didn't expect that Yang Cheng, as a time traveler, was quite familiar with his moves.

When the bandages on his hands came undone, Yang Cheng knew that Xiao Li was going to use "Inner Lotus".

"Storm Kick - Kaito!"

Before the bandages fluttering around him could completely wrap around Yang Cheng's body, a bright blue slash was already kicked out by Yang Cheng.

Although the bandages wrapped around Xiao Li's hands were specially made, they were still easily torn apart by Yang Cheng's storm kick.

Even when Lan's foot flew towards him, Xiao Li, sensing the danger, quickly dodged to the side.

The azure slash that grazed past his body left a deep trench in the ground and almost divided the entire arena!

Looking at the trenches left on the ground, Lee turned around, ready to retaliate, but saw Yang Cheng pull out a kunai from his ninja tool bag and hold it to his neck.

"That's enough. If you continue fighting, the Eight Gates Formation will cause irreparable damage to your body."

I'm so sorry for my rude remarks earlier; they were just meant to motivate you.

"Your strength is already quite formidable. If it weren't for good luck and the use of certain methods, I would be far inferior to you."

Yang Cheng's words were not merely meant to comfort Xiao Li; they were simply the truth of the matter.

Without the cheat of sharing abilities, he would have no chance of beating the current Xiao Li based on his own qualifications and talent.

"So-called excellence is nothing more than striving to surpass one's predecessors. So-called genius is nothing more than building upon the knowledge of others."

Prejudice is a mountain. Instead of chasing after geniuses and setting limits and locks for yourself, try to constantly surpass yourself.

Yang Cheng left with those words and turned to leave the arena. Gekko Hayate, the chief examiner, and Might Guy, who had jumped into the arena from upstairs to care about his disciple, both smiled when they heard what Yang Cheng said to Lee.

"It seems everyone has misjudged. The most talented ninja in this year's Chunin Exams is not Hyuga Neji, Uchiha Sasuke, or Gaara."

He was a commoner ninja genius who had been overlooked all along.