I don't have a counter against that weakness. [ Suigetsu snaps, cleaning the edge of the sword dutifully, kindly on the edge of his shirt.

It irritates him to no end that Sasuke far exceeds him in technique. ] And I'm not suffering. I suffered for little more than three years, Sasuke, I'm through with it -- I'm improving at the rate I should have been; I lost all that time, do you know what I'll be capable of in three more years?

[ The prospect made him giddy, but that long road was only just beginning again. Stuck here, he was still frozen in that tank, it felt like the bottom all over again. ]

So don't go dying on me until I crush your face into the dirt.