You see, the Front Lotus involves binding the opponent with bandages, then spinning at high speed, and throwing the opponent away at the instant before landing.
And now!
Because of the Longsword: Needle Sword's steel wire, both Lee and Neji were bound together.
In other words, if they continued falling and spinning at this speed, neither of them would be able to escape.
"Lee, you should know better than anyone the power of the Front Lotus!"
"Once you land at this speed, with your body after opening the Eight Gates, you won't be able to withstand it at all!"
Neji's voice suddenly rang beside Lee's ear.
In this situation, Neji could only forcefully bind Lee, using this as the price to make Lee reduce his speed.
Hearing Neji's words, Lee's expression remained silent, but the bandages binding Neji only grew tighter.
"Guy-sensei once said that strong shinobi can be divided into genius types and hard-working types. Although I'm not some strong shinobi, I belong to the hard-working type!"
"So... Neji! You, as a genius, have always been the goal I wanted to surpass. I want to prove that hard work can surpass genius!"
"Someone like me! How could I give up!"
Lee let out a roar, and the speed of their spinning fall somehow increased even more.
"Lee!!"
Seeing this, Might Guy's expression changed dramatically, and he let out a worried shout.
Might Guy wanted to rush over and interrupt their fight, but the aura emanating from Yuto, who was sitting on a nearby stone bench, locked onto Might Guy completely, preventing him from making any movement.
"Are you just going to watch this happen?"
Might Guy clenched his fists tightly, turned his head toward Yuto, and spoke in a low voice.
The First Mizukage, Yuto, had spent so much effort taking Neji away, and had even entrusted one of the Seven Swords of the Mist, the Longsword: Needle Sword, to Neji's hands.
Just these two points were enough to show how much importance Yuto placed on Neji.
But now, was Yuto just going to watch all this happen?
Yuto didn't pay attention to Might Guy. His gaze was fixed on the two people falling rapidly, and a hint of amusement suddenly appeared on his face.
"Do you know the difference between the strong and the weak?"
Yuto turned his head indifferently toward Might Guy and continued speaking calmly:
"The distinction between strong and weak has never been simply about strength."
"At least right now, your disciple looks more like a strong one than you do."
After speaking, Yuto turned his head back to look forward.
A genius who hasn't grown up can't really be called a genius.
BOOM!
A tremendous roar rang out beside everyone's ears.
Neji and Lee crashed heavily onto the ground, forcibly smashing a massive crater into the earth.
A large amount of dust shot into the air, obscuring the position where they had landed. Might Guy and the others couldn't see what condition the two were in at all.
Tenten, who was staying to the side of the battlefield, stared blankly at the scene before her.
"Lee!"
Tenten shouted toward the deep crater, then quickly rushed toward it.
Just as Tenten was about to reach the crater, a piercing whistling sound suddenly erupted from within.
In the next instant, a steel wire shot out from the dust toward Tenten.
Seeing this, Tenten's pupils contracted, her body rushing forward suddenly stiffened, and she quickly turned to dodge the steel wire that had shot out.
The steel wire that Tenten dodged didn't stop—instead, it struck a large tree behind her.
The moment the steel wire touched the tree, it instantly wrapped around the tree trunk and then the entire wire rapidly tightened.
As the wire rapidly contracted, Neji—covered in blood and with a weak presence—was quickly pulled out of the deep crater.
By this time, Tenten had also reacted and wanted to stop Neji from leaving, but the steel wire's contraction speed was simply too fast.
In the blink of an eye, Neji's figure had already passed by Tenten's side.
At this moment, the dust that had been obscuring the crater completely dispersed.
Lee struggled to reach out his hand toward Neji's direction, but it was already too late.
Using the steel wire wrapped around his waist, Neji had barely managed to escape Tenten and Lee's encirclement, but his condition was very poor.
At this moment, Neji leaned against a large tree, looking toward Lee and Tenten as he continuously panted heavily.
Due to the rather violent steel wire pulling motion, Neji—who was already seriously injured—couldn't help but spit a mouthful of blood.
Feeling the intense pain coming from his abdomen, Neji raised his hand and gently touched it, his expression sinking.
Three broken ribs.
The power of the Front Lotus was far stronger than Neji had imagined!
If not for using the Longsword: Needle Sword's power to deflect the landing angle by a few degrees, he would probably already be lying on the ground, unable to get up.
But similarly, Lee, who had been bound together with Neji, had also avoided the vital areas.
On the other side, Tenten had already reached Lee's side. Seeing Lee, who was also covered in blood, Tenten's face was full of worry:
"Lee, how are you?"
"I'm fine."
Lee gritted his teeth and climbed up from the ground. Just as he was about to stand, Lee felt his legs go weak and he fell backward.
But in the instant before Lee fell, Tenten quickly caught him.
"Thank you, Tenten."
Lee had a slightly apologetic look on his face as he spoke weakly.
Seeing Lee's extremely weak state, Tenten's eyes glistened:
"I should be the one apologizing. I held you back."
"That's not true at all. Neji is really strong. If it was just me alone, I wouldn't have been able to defeat him."
Although his whole body felt weak, Lee still smiled and encouraged Tenten.
"Damn... you two really made a huge commotion just now."
Just then, an equally weak voice rang out from behind Tenten and Lee.
Hyuga Seiju, who had originally been defeated by Neji and knocked unconscious, had now woken up.
Hyuga Seiju walked over to Lee and Tenten's side and spoke with a bitter smile.
"Looks like Neji is also badly hurt."
Hyuga Seiju looked at Neji, who was leaning against the tree, and couldn't help but glance at Lee.
Although he had joined Team 3, Hyuga Seiju hadn't paid much attention to Lee and Tenten.
Especially Lee.
Someone who couldn't use ninjutsu or genjutsu, who could only rely on taijutsu—no matter how strong his taijutsu training was, what did it matter?
But now, Hyuga Seiju discovered that he had perhaps far underestimated Lee's strength.
"I thought you were dead."
Tenten's voice carried a hint of dissatisfaction as she looked at Hyuga Seiju approaching.
Hyuga Seiju's face showed a bitter expression—he knew he wasn't very well-liked by Tenten.
Looking at the three people in the distance, Neji let out a deep breath.
"The new Team 3! Today, let's settle this once and for all!"
"I won't lose! At least not to you!"
Neji tightly gripped the Longsword: Needle Sword, his voice filled with determination.
These last words were not only spoken by Neji to Lee and the others, but also to himself.
Lord Yuto was still watching from the side. No matter what, Neji would absolutely not allow himself to fail.
[
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