Arthur now had a twenty percent chance of facing Jada, Chōji, Neji, Shino, or Gaara. Regardless of who it was, he wasn't planning to lose.
Anticipation intensified as the screen started to reveal the names of the next combatants: 'Jada Uchiha vs. Neji Hyūga'.
A roar of approval erupted from the crowd.
"Wish me well!" she said after hopping over the rails.
Neji soon came down from his position and stood across.
Arthur happened to notice the rapt attention of Sasuke and Kakashi in the stands. Both, especially Sasuke, seemed genuinely intrigued by this upcoming fight.
"Neji," Jada began, "I was really hoping to fight you."
"That so?" Neji said with a smirk.
"Yeah! You have no idea how much people like you." Her comment made him confused. "Ugh! I mean, in the village, everyone's really hoping that you do well in the Hyūga clan."
Neji let out a laugh, seemingly accepting her comment. "I see…"
Now the small talk was over as Jada gave a serious look. "I'm not gonna go easy on you just because you're you." Then she activated her Sharingan. "Go all out, okay? I want to see how strong I've become."
The challenge was welcomed as Neji activated his Byakugan. "Let's see what the Uchiha clan's got then…"
Hayate raised his arm. "Begin!"
Both fighters then launched themselves forward before meeting each other in the middle.
Bang!
Jada began parrying his blows while trying to look for his weaknesses. Yet Neji was far different than she expected as he utilized his Gentle Fist fighting style.
The crowd, on the edge of their seats, held their breath with each clash.
Soon, the two fighters then skid across the arena floor. Both of them were panting.
"Ready for round two?" Jada mused.
"Come and try," Neji said, returning to his stance.
They then charged at each other again.
Neji launched a quick attack, hitting a pressure point on her bicep. The pain sent a jolt through her arm, but she remained standing. He went in for another attack, but she deflected it with a well-timed block, only to see two more strikes incoming.
So using her momentum, she slipped underneath, leaving Neji momentarily off-balance. She then aimed an elbow at his side. But Neji quickly recovered to do the same attack.
Bang!
Both of their elbows had clashed.
"You should know," he smirked while keeping her in place, "I have no blind spots."
"It would be boring if you did," she shot back.
Jada lowered her elbow and landed a blow squarely on his chest that sent him flying back several feet.
The crowd could barely believe it. She had landed the first real attack. And not just any attack, but one copied directly from her own opponent.
"Not bad," Neji said, clutching the hurt spot.
Seizing this opportunity, she ran toward him. But Neji had already shaken himself as the two countered one another's blows with a repertoire of pinpoint strikes.
"Those movements!" Guy said.
Even Kakashi recognized them. It was the 'Ferocious Fist' taijutsu—the exact opposite of the Gentle Fist, involving smashing an opponent with sheer physical attacks that could break bones.
The only way she could have possibly learned it was through having copied the fighting style from either Might Guy or Kakashi.
Only a few seconds into their clash, Jada unleashed a whirlwind of kicks, forcing Neji to weave at awkward angles. When he thought he saw an opening, she changed her, she twirled around him and delivered an uppercut to his jaw.
Bang!
The moment he recovered, it was clear to everyone that her quick reflexes were superior.
"Why isn't Neji using the Rotation?" Tenten asked.
Arthur knew.
It wasn't that Neji couldn't use the Rotation; Jada simply wasn't giving him the opportunity. Her Sharingan was predicting the Gentle Fist's circular deflection pattern, so she incorporated sharp feints to throw Neji off balance.
The fight soon devolved into a breathtaking display of speed.
Jada continued to predict Neji's Gentle Fist strikes a fraction of a second faster. This kept leaving him open for a well-placed kick or punch.
Neji, frustrated by Jada's ability to see through his every move, decided to change his tactic.
Charging in again, he'd feint left, then strike right.
It missed, so he changed up his moves again.
He initiated a spinning kick, only to slam his fist into the ground at the last moment and aim for an uppercut instead.
Swoosh!
It missed again.
"Will," Naruto said, looking to the side, "I thought you said Neji was a genius with his Byakugan."
"He is, cuz. I guess all this time I've just been underestimating Jada."
Who could blame her when she had been copying virtually every talented shinobi's skills in the Leaf Village?
Now in this fight, her Sharingan was analyzing the subtlest of muscle twitches. Even when Neji masked his true attack, she could predict it a split-second before impact, allowing her to react right on time.
The crowd roared their approval.
"I'm impressed," Neji said calmly after gaining some space. "Your clan is worth keeping in the village after all." Then he turned to the balcony where Team 7 was watching. "But you aren't the Uchiha I was looking to fight."
"That supposed to be an insult?" Jada asked, keeping herself composed.
"Call it what you will." Neji then smoothly adopted a familiar stance. "It's time to end this…"
Jada could see the patterns form on the ground as if they were tangible. Hinata, watching from the stands, felt surprised. This powerful technique, a cornerstone of the Hyūga clan's taijutsu, wasn't meant for a member of the branch clan to learn.
"Witness the Hyūga style's secret technique!" Neji boldly declared. "Eight trigrams: sixty-four palms!"
He then launched himself forward as his strikes began to rain down.
"Two palms!" Bang-bang! "Four palms!" Bang-bang-bang-bang!
Surprisingly, Jada was moving in sync while deflecting his strikes with only two of her fingertips from each hand. It was then that everyone understood that she was actually copying them!
"Eight palms, sixteen palms," she playfully said.
Neji's own strikes intensified with each passing palm. "Thirty-two palms!"
But Jada just mimicked him. "Thirty palms!"
When his final bout reached the sixty-fourth palm, a pinpoint jab aimed at her vital chakra point—bang!—it was met with a perfectly timed block.
Silence descended upon the arena. Neji stood shocked.
One of his ultimate techniques had been completely nullified. Something like this was never seen.
Jada only had a single bead of sweat rolling down her cheek. "That was pretty intense," she remarked. "You're not bad, but it looks like you aren't the one I was looking to fight either."
Before he could retort, she wasted no time forming hand signs.
Chakra then erupted from her palm that created a torrent of water that flowed beneath Neji's feet. The water then solidified to form a geyser that propelled him skyward. Jada quickly leaped after him.
At the peak of her jump, a massive whirlpool formed around her whole arm. Then it extended outward like a giant aquatic drill.
Neji's eyes widened. There was only one technique he could use from this position. So he quickly spun himself in the air to create a spinning barrier of chakra.
"Eight trigrams: rotation!"
"Water style: hardened water drill!"
When she slammed the swirling vortex down, two techniques sent a shockwave through the arena.
Ka-splash!
Neji and his defenses were pushed straight to the ground as Jada's attack continued drilling.
"I'm not gonna lose!" she shouted.
Then, crack!
To everyone's surprise, the water drill pierced through Neji's Rotation technique and engulfed him before causing a deafening explosion that echoed through the whole arena.
For a second, the stage was in a haze of mist.
The crowd held its breath, and when it finally cleared, gasps could be heard.
Neji, the famed genius many came to know as, lay sprawled inside a mini crater. Several feet away, Jada stood panting with ragged breaths.
A wave of cheers erupted from the stands, louder than any of the previous battles.
Jada finally slumped to the floor.
With a smile, she managed to say, "That was a fun fight, Neji... You actually made me use up all of my chakra. Ha-ha."
Neji's clothes were damp, and his entire body could no longer move. Surprisingly, he was still conscious.
"You were a worthy opponent, Jada…" While the comment was sincere, deep down, he regretted having underestimated her. "I lost fair and square."
It's then that Jada managed to get herself up, allowing Hayate to step forward and raise his hand to declare, "The winner of this match is Jada Uchiha."
The cheers intensified as Jada basked in the applause. There was no doubt she had shown sportsmanship and admirable qualities as a kunoichi, leaving many of the Jōnin to show admiration for her talents.
Those most surprised by this outcome was Team Guy. Not a single one of them believed Neji would lose.
Arthur himself remained silent.
Her victory, especially the way she had managed to overcome Neji's Rotation technique, was significant. And that water technique: he had never seen it before, as it was from a video game and used only once by the second Hokage, Tobirama Senju.
As for Jada, she didn't come out of this fight unscathed. Arthur could see that, because she had exerted herself, she received a small bruise on the arm that was encased in water.
So how did she win?
The Rotation was a technique that could repel an attack (and anything else in the vicinity) by constantly spinning. The greater the force of that attack, the greater the force with which it was repelled.
Jada, through careful manipulation of her chakra, had spun the water drill counterclockwise. This subtle twist in the jutsu's execution prevented her attack from being deflected.
Combined with the sheer amount of chakra she had poured into the jutsu, it had overwhelmed Neji's defense. His Rotation could only sustain itself for so long until it drained his chakra reserves, leaving him vulnerable to the full force of her jutsu.
Then there was her Sharingan. It only had two tomoe still, but she had made full use of it by utilizing its copying ability. Jada, not originally being a fighter, now knew how to execute combos flawlessly thanks to it.
These people from earth and their hidden abilities were proving to be far more challenging than Arthur had believed.
Not long after, medical ninjas carried Neji away.
Arthur watched as Jada greeted her teammates on the opposite end. They congratulated her non-stop while much of the crowd continued applauding.
"Way to show them you're not just a pretty face!" Sakura said upon approaching their group.
The comment made Jada's face turn red; she hadn't expected someone like Sakura to think she was pretty. In fact, she thought Sakura hated her for having grabbed Sasuke's attention back in application building.
Hopefully her Inner Sakura wasn't thinking otherwise.
"Gee, thanks, Sakura! I didn't think someone like you would think that."
"What? Why not?"
"Because you're just as pretty as me."
The two girls then giggled after sharing a heartwarming exchange.
With Jada's fight now over, there were only two more remaining. Either Arthur would fight Shino, Chōji, or… Gaara.