Faced with Might Guy in this state, even Hoshigaki Kisame, who naturally possesses strength far beyond ordinary people, doesn't want to engage in Taijutsu with him.
Getting slightly injured is acceptable, but once he enters Might Guy's attack rhythm, he might not even be able to use Ninjutsu before he's defeated.
After kicking apart the Water Dragon Bomb, Might Guy charged directly at Kisame; due to his incredible speed, ordinary spectators could only see a green flash constantly advancing.
"Water Release: Great Bursting Water Wave!" Kisame, who originally wanted to exhaust some of Might Guy's stamina, immediately gathered all his chakra and unleashed his ultimate move.
Last time, Might Guy was defeated by the huge water ball of the Great Bursting Water Wave, so this time Kisame intends to exhaust Might Guy's strength before using this move, to prevent history from repeating itself.
But Might Guy was in an alarmingly good state, forcing Kisame to release the Great Bursting Water Wave ahead of time; otherwise, the ensuing battle would be very disadvantageous to him.
The battleground seemed large to ordinary people, but for a Taijutsu expert like Might Guy, it was relatively small.
Kisame converted most of his entire chakra into water attribute chakra and turned it into a torrent, a water volume several times more terrifying than before spewed from Kisame's mouth.
Might Guy instantly thought of the giant water ball in the Forest of Death. He stopped running and swiftly retreated.
He couldn't breathe underwater, so being trapped in it recklessly would put him at a disadvantage.
But this past month wasn't spent in vain for Kisame either; he also trained hard for a month, and although it wasn't exaggerated, he was indeed stronger than he was a month ago.
Kisame utilized the torrent from the initially released Bursting Water Wave, and soon the water ball from the Great Bursting Water Wave increasingly expanded, with a tendency to cover the entire battleground.
Though there's only a single character difference, in reality, the Bursting Water Wave and the Great Bursting Water Wave are quite different.
The Bursting Water Wave is similar to the Water Array Pillar—it creates a large amount of water to build a favorable environment for the Water Release Ninja, whereas the Great Bursting Water Wave can create a massive solid version of the Water Prison Jutsu.
Soon Might Guy realized he had no retreat, as Kisame's Great Bursting Water Wave was too vast and could envelop the entire battleground.
Might Guy took a deep breath; it wasn't hard for him to hold his breath underwater for five minutes, but if he wanted to maintain the strength of the Breathing Technique, he had tried, the most he could sustain was a minute, meaning he had to defeat Kisame within this minute; otherwise, unfortified by the Breathing Technique, he might not be a match for Kisame underwater.
Might Guy raised his power to its peak in one breath, then proactively let the continuously expanding water ball envelop him.
Despite the unfavorable conditions due to the battleground's restrictions, the word 'retreat' doesn't exist in Might Guy's dictionary.
Kisame's powerful Water Release triggered astonished gasps from the audience.
Many ordinary spectators found it amazing that a water ball could form without any container, and yet it didn't leak.
Kakashi closely watched the battleground. As a fellow practitioner of the Breathing Technique, he understood Might Guy's predicament at this moment.
Seeing Might Guy finally enter the water ball, a smile appeared on Kisame's face; combined with his sharp teeth and the way he swam in the water, he seemed truly like a shark.
"Water Release: Water Shark Bomb Jutsu!"
Under Kisame's continuous chakra stimulation, five sharks with huge mouths appeared in the water, swimming swiftly to bite Might Guy.
This was a Water Release Ninjutsu that Kisame had developed himself over the past thirty days, better suited for him than the Water Dragon Bomb.
Kisame had ideas for further developing it, combining his body's unique natural attributes, but due to time constraints, he hadn't completed it.
Facing the ferocious sharks, Might Guy showed no fear; he burst with energy and charged towards Kisame, his powerful chakra briefly pushing back the water by his feet.
Boom!
A punch from Might Guy directly exploded the oncoming Water Shark, the terrifying force causing waves in the water.
"Stronger than that time." Kisame's expression slightly changed.
It took Might Guy only nine seconds to eliminate all five Water Sharks, and he continued his charge at Kisame.
Kisame hurriedly expended more chakra to create Water Sharks charging at Might Guy again.
But this still couldn't halt Might Guy's progress; he was like an invincible war deity steadily approaching Kisame.
"Forty seconds, forty-one seconds." Might Guy silently counted the time inside the water ball.
"Ten Shark Bomb!"
Kisame, igniting all his chakra, produced ten Water Sharks at once.
Even with Kisame's abundant chakra, repeatedly using Water Release left him feeling drained.
"Gohyo!"
Upon reaching fifty seconds in his silent count, Might Guy's powerful chakra from the Eight Gates completely erupted, fortifying Might Guy's entire body and elevating his momentum to a new peak.
The multiple explosions from Soru made the power of this kick unbeatable, and the impact from Might Guy's footwork dispersed the first three Water Sharks.
The intensely fierce water waves within the water ball seemed to emit a silent roar like that of a leopard's head of chakra; as Might Guy's powerful kick contacted the sharks, seven sharks instantly shattered.
"Fifty-three, fifty-four." In his silent count, Might Guy's flying kick drew steadily closer to Kisame.
Kisame, while swiftly swimming backward, exhausted his last chakra to create a Water Shark three times larger than the usual ones to bite at Might Guy.
Boom!!
The collision between the leopard's head and the giant shark once again stirred the giant water ball.
At this moment, Might Guy's silent count reached sixty.
Kisame could clearly sense that Might Guy's aura had suddenly weakened; the leopard, seemingly about to crush the shark, showed signs of exhaustion.
A smile appeared on Kisame's face, believing his opportunity to counterattack had arrived.
"No way..." Shiranui Genma and Ebisu looked worried.
"The arena is too small; couldn't it be bigger? This gives too much advantage to Hoshigaki Kisame for his Ninjutsu." Obito thought that Might Guy was at a significant disadvantage in terms of the arena.
Kakashi's expression remained unchanged; he would believe in Might Guy until the result was out. After all, they promised to fight in the finals.
Before Kisame could relish victory for even half a second, because they were near the edge of the water ball, Might Guy used all his strength to headbutt out and take a breath, then immediately released the temporarily extended power to smash the giant shark and kick Kisame away.
Without Kisame's control, the giant water ball instantly lost cohesion, and Kisame slammed hard against the wall at the edge of the arena, while Might Guy landed stably and spat out the water he inadvertently swallowed.
Then, Might Guy immediately checked on Kisame and confirmed that Kisame was heavily injured and incapable of continuing the battle, which put his mind at ease.
"Might Guy wins!" Hiruko quickly announced Might Guy's victory.
Might Guy showed a bright smile to the people in the audience and simultaneously gave himself a thumbs up.
Defeating Kisame meant advancing to the finals, bringing him one small step closer to his goal of being the strongest in Taijutsu.
"My dear friend, you're next." Might Guy looked towards the direction of the resting room.