I stood in front of the porcelain urinal in the competitor's restroom, staring blankly at the tiled wall as I handled my business.
While the area around me was quiet for the most part, my mind was running a mile a minute. I closed my eyes and seamlessly slipped into my [SHADOW LINK], casting my consciousness out across the network of Soldiers I had stationed throughout the village.
The atmosphere throughout the village had noticeably shifted. The concealed Sand and Sound forces scattered around the perimeter were suddenly on edge. They were moving differently—looking over their shoulders, tightening their formations, and silently passing hand signals to one another. Kabuto's message about the missing summoning squads had clearly circulated through their ranks. They knew something was wrong, and the paranoia was setting in.
I severed the link with my perimeter guards and shifted my focus inward, scanning the civilians in the village and in the stadium stands.
That was when I noticed the actions of the sleeper agents.
Dozens of them were discreetly moving into strategic chokepoints around the stadium and around the village. They were most likely preparing to use the civilian populace that were going to be knocked out by the Nirvana Temple Genjutsu as some sort of leverage against the Leaf ninjas the moment the invasion officially kicked off.
But that ain't gonna happen on my watch, I decided, selecting a dozen of my elite Soldiers hidden in the shadows near the agents. Take 'em all out. Make it look like an acci—
[WARNING: CRITICAL DIRECTIVE CONFLICT]
[ACTION BLOCKED: EXECUTING THESE TARGETS WILL VOID YOUR [SPIRITUAL CONTRACT] WITH HIRUZEN SARUTOBI, RESULTING IN IMMEDIATE SOUL ERASURE.]
I zipped up my pants, staring at the hovering red text in disbelief.
What?! I mentally yelled at the System, stepping over to the sinks to wash my hands. How the hell does killing Orochimaru's sleeper agents void my contract to protect the village?!
[CLARIFICATION: THE DESIGNATED TARGETS ARE FORMALLY REGISTERED AS RESIDENTS/CIVILIANS OF KONOHA BECAUSE THEY WERE OFFICIALLY DOCUMENTED WITHIN THE VILLAGE'S INFRASTRUCTURE AT THE EXACT TIME THE SPIRITUAL CONTRACT WAS FORGED, RECOGNIZING THEM AS 'CIVILIANS OF KONOHA.' THEREFORE, UNDER THE STRICT PARAMETERS OF THE CONTRACT, YOU CANNOT EXECUTE THEM WITHOUT 'PROBABLE CAUSE'—I.E., THEY MUST COMMIT A CLEAR HOSTILE ACT THAT THREATENS THE VILLAGE BEFORE LETHAL FORCE IS PERMITTED.]
I gripped the edges of the porcelain sink as I processed the massive loophole.
You've got to be fucking kidding me, I smirked, wiping my hands with a paper towel. So, because Orochimaru was smart enough to plant these guys some time ago, I can't touch them until they actually start destroying things? Is there even any way around this sort of restrictive bullshit in the future?
[AFFIRMATIVE. THE SPIRITUAL CONTRACT IS HIGHLY MALLEABLE. IF HIRUZEN SARUTOBI SURVIVES THE FATED ENCOUNTER, YOU MAY FORMALLY NEGOTIATE AND RESTRUCTURE THE CONTRACT'S PARAMETERS WITH HIM TO CLOSE ADMINISTRATIVE LOOPHOLES. ALTERNATIVELY, SHOULD A NEW HOKAGE TAKE OFFICE, A NEW CONTRACT MAY BE FORGED.]
[NOTE: ESTABLISHING A CONTRACT IS ENTIRELY OPTIONAL; HOWEVER, THE IMMENSE XP MODIFIERS, PASSIVE BUFFS, AND POLITICAL IMMUNITY IT GRANTS ARE HIGHLY BENEFICIAL TO YOUR PROGRESSION.]
Fine. I'll let them draw their weapons first, I concluded, tossing the paper towel into the trash bin. It'll be more interesting this way. Things were getting too easy, anyways.
As I made my way toward the open entranceway, two men stepped inside, completely blocking my path.
One of them had a lean build, sharp, narrow dark eyes, and unruly, shoulder-length brown hair. He wore a dark, long-sleeved shirt underneath a lighter-colored vest. The second man had a slightly broader build with short, spiky light hair. He wore a light-colored vest over a dark top, with bandages wrapped tightly around his shins. My eyes immediately locked onto the metal plate tilted at an angle on the broader man's forehead.
Hidden Grass shinobi? I thought with a raised brow. What do they need with me?
"Naruto Uzumaki," the broader of the two grunted, as they came closer to me. "We need to have a little chat."
I didn't even shift my posture. I just slipped my hands into my pockets. "Oh, I don't sign autographs in the bathroom. Ya know, hygiene thing and all."
"Save the jokes, kid," the leaner mercenary said, pointing at my chest. "We work for some very wealthy and very powerful noblemen upstairs. They've got a fortune riding on the Hyuga prodigy winning this tournament."
"And your little water show in the last round has made them very nervous," the broader one sneered, stepping closer. "So here's what's going to happen. You're going to go out there, you're going to put on another nice little show, and then you're going to lose. If you don't..." He cracked his knuckles. "You might not make it to your next fight in one piece."
I stared at them for a long second as my mind was trying to remember where I'd seen them from.
Oh that's right, I realized, almost wanting to laugh. These are the two idiots who tried to threaten Gaara into throwing his match in the canon timeline. He turned them into literal meat paste right before he fought Sasuke.
I began to think about the situation for a moment.
If I leave them alone, they'll undoubtedly stumble into Gaara's path and get themselves slaughtered, I mused. Feeding Shukaku's bloodlust right before the invasion would be more trouble than it's worth. And since they aren't registered Konoha citizens... I don't need any probable cause to… help them understand the errors of their actions.
"I think you boys have the wrong idea," I said, activating my [PRESENCE].
The air in the bathroom instantly plummeted as a suffocating force slammed down onto the two Grass ninja. They began to tremble as their knees buckled under the sheer weight of my aura.
In a blur of motion, I stepped forward.
THWACK.
I delivered two lightning-fast palm strikes directly into their solar plexuses.
All the air rushed out of their lungs in a synchronized gasp. Their eyes rolled into the back of their heads, and they crumpled to the tiled floor like strings cut from a puppet, completely unconscious.
"Well, that takes care of that," I muttered, casually stepping over their bodies. "They'll be out for a while, and live to see another day."
I adjusted my jacket as I stepped back out into the stadium corridor.
I made my way back onto the competitor's balcony just as the five-minute intermission was coming to an end. Temari and Ajisai were already walking down the opposite stairways, heading toward the freshly cleared arena floor.
As I watched the Rain kunoichi descend, I took a moment to properly analyze her.
Now that I think about it, she's been incredibly quiet this entire time, I noted, leaning my elbows against the railing. When I was ragebaiting everyone, she didn't even blink. Nagato and Konan must be running a strict program out there in Ame.
Down below, Genma stood between the two kunoichi. "Match Five. Begin!"
Having just been humiliated by Shikamaru's tactical brilliance in her last match, Temari was clearly not taking any chances. She didn't rush in or immediately swing her fan for a sweeping attack like she did prior. Instead, she unslung the heavy iron weapon, opening it to the first purple moon, and swept it in short, calculated bursts.
She sent out rapid blades of wind to test Ajisai's reflexes and gauge the terrain for areas of potential traps she might set. But Ajisai was just as tactical. Instead of dodging, she unrolled a medium-sized scroll from her pouch, swiping her thumb across the ink seal.
With a thick plume of smoke, a heavy, reinforced iron gate materialized directly in front of her, completely absorbing Temari's wind scythes with a deafening sequence of metallic clangs.
Temari clicked her tongue, immediately using the wind to vault herself high into the air, attempting to flank the strong defense. But the moment she cleared the top of the gate, Ajisai was already waiting with a second scroll unrolled.
POOF.
A giant panda plummeted from above, roaring aggressively as it lunged directly at Temari in mid-air.
Temari gritted her teeth, forced to fully open her fan to all three moons. She reared it back with both hands, channeling a surge of chakra to blow the heavy summon out of the sky.
But that was exactly what Ajisai wanted.
While Temari's attention and momentum were entirely committed to the panda, Ajisai blurred through hand signs and unleashed a blinding storm of paper. Thousands of razor-sharp, explosive-laced scraps violently swirled into the air, completely masking the Rain kunoichi's location.
Temari swung her fan, unleashing a devastating gale that sent the giant panda crashing into the stadium wall and blew the paperstorm away in a concussive shockwave.
But the momentum of her backswing left her open for a fraction of a second.
Ajisai used the fading visual cover of the swirling paper to slip directly into Temari's blind spot. Before the Sand ninja could even recover her stance from the heavy swing, Ajisai's hand darted out, slapping a glowing tag directly onto the center of Temari's iron fan.
FWOOSH.
Temari violently stumbled forward, nearly falling on her face as the weight of her weapon exponentially increased. She looked down at the heavy iron in absolute shock. A few feet away, Ajisai stood calmly with her hand in a seal sign, awaiting the wind practitioner's next move.
Temari stared at the Rain kunoichi for a long, furious second before her eyes briefly flicked up at the disguised Orochimaru. He looked at her blankly, silently communicating something.
Temari's shoulders immediately dropped in defeat. "I forfeit."
The stadium clapped politely at the brief but brilliant tactical display, though they were clearly buzzing with anticipation for the next set of matches.
Genma raised his arm. "Winner, Ajisai!"
Up on the giant electronic screen, the bracket shifted. Ajisai's name moved forward, cementing her spot in the Final Four.
"Match Six!" Genma's voice boomed, turning his attention directly toward the balcony. "Naruto Uzumaki versus Neji Hyuga! Both fighters, make your way down to the arena floor!"
Neji scoffed lightly, pushing himself off the wall. He didn't even look at me as he turned and began walking down the stairs, his posture radiating absolute arrogance.
I didn't immediately follow. Instead, I stayed leaning against the railing, letting my heightened senses and my positioned Soldiers pick up the rampant murmurs and sights rippling through the stadium.
"The Uzumaki kid is strong, but Neji is a Hyuga prodigy," a Chunin whispered to his squad. "He doesn't have a counter for the Byakugan. The moment Neji closes the distance, it's a wrap."
"I don't know, did you see that massive water shark?" another Chunin argued back. "The kid's got serious power."
"Raw power means nothing if your chakra points are sealed," a Jonin scoffed.
Over in the VIP section, I caught the stern voice of Hiashi Hyuga speaking to his youngest daughter. "Watch closely, Hanabi. Despite his status, the Hyuga blood flows thicker in his veins than anyone else's."
"Yes, Father," Hanabi replied.
"It is almost a tragedy that a Branch member was born with such overwhelming talent," an older, traditional Hyuga elder muttered bitterly beside them. "Still, it will take the boy no more than two minutes to dispose of that loudmouth. The Byakugan's power is absolute."
Then, my ears twitched as I picked up the voices of the Konoha rookies clustered in the stands, their overlapping conversations carrying over the roar of the crowd.
"I don't know, guys," Ino's voice drifted over, sounding uncertain. "Naruto looked amazing in his first match, but Neji... he almost killed Hinata in the preliminaries. He's dangerous."
"Yeah, Neji's a monster," Kiba agreed, his tone unusually serious. "Akamaru is still shivering just looking at him. If Naruto tries to get up close, he's probably dead meat."
"Do not count Naruto out!" Lee's passionate voice boomed over them. "The flames of youth burn brightly within him! He will not fall easily!"
"Lee's right," Sakura said. "Naruto's stronger than he lets on. He'll find a way to beat him."
Hinata agreed while clasping her hands together.
Tenten sighed loudly, crossing her arms confidently. "Naruto did great in his last match, but this is where it ends," she said, shaking her head. "Neji's Gentle Fist shuts down chakra networks. Once he gets in close, I'm afraid it's over for Naruto."
Oh, is that so? I thought, my eye twitching behind my sunglasses. After I win this, I'm rubbing baby oil all over her weapons so she can't grip anything.
Right on cue, the world briefly froze as the System chimed in, projecting a glowing blue screen right in front of my face
[NEW SUB-QUEST GENERATED]
[THE CAGED BIRD: PROVE THAT FATE HAS NO HOLD OVER A MONARCH]:
Objective: Defeat Neji Hyuga.
Bonus Condition 1: Do not get touched by your opponent for 1 minute.
Bonus Condition 2: Utilize at least three Chakra-nature Ninjutsu.
Bonus Condition 3: Defeat your opponent with Taijutsu.
[REWARDS]:
+5,000 XP
+50,000 Ryo
Item: Elixir of the Ascendant
Bonus Reward: Unique Accessory
A unique accessory, eh? I thought, as I read through the rewards and a wicked grin spread across my face before I dismissed the screen. Wonder what that features.
The crowd was starting to rumble, wondering what the hold-up was. I finally pushed off the railing and began my slow, deliberate walk down the concrete stairs toward the arena floor.
It was time to break a bird out of its cage.
By the time my boots finally hit the dirt of the arena floor, the crowd was practically buzzing with impatient murmurs.
Genma stood in the center of the battlefield, casually rolling his signature senbon needle from one side of his mouth to the other. He gave me a dry, unamused look as I approached.
"You have a real penchant for being late," he noted lazily. "Is Kakashi's terrible time management rubbing off on you, or are you just trying to build suspense?"
I waved a hand dismissively, not even breaking my stride as I walked to my side of the arena. "I told you already, you can't rush greatness, didn't I? Have you not learned this lesson before, you stubborn bastard?"
"I ain't rushing greatness, kid. I'm rushing you," Genma retorted, pointing to the space in front of Neji. "Now, get in position."
"Yea, yea," I sighed, coming to a halt and adjusting my lenses. "All that hate in your heart won't evolve you, my ninja. Now, let's get this over with, yea? I've got other errands to run today. I'm a busy guy, ya know?"
Genma could do nothing but shake his head, muttering something under his breath about Genin having too much ego these days as he backed away to start the match.
Across from me, Neji stood perfectly still. His pale, featureless eyes were locked onto me with a look of clinical disdain.
"Your arrogance is remarkably farsighted," he spoke, his tone cold and measured. "It completely blinds you to the reality of your inescapable defeat."
I let out a short, genuine laugh. "That's pretty ironic coming from you, considering how incredibly shortsighted you actually are."
Neji's eyes narrowed into dangerous slits. "You haven't learned a thing since the preliminaries. A failure is a failure. It is an inescapable destiny. You can wear flashy clothes, act arrogant, and put on a show for the crowd, but the only fate everyone on this earth truly shares is death. And today, I will show you yours."
"Death?" I scoffed, tilting my head back slightly. "Please. Death can have me when it actually earns me. I'll die only when I choose to."
Neji's jaw tightened, clearly insulted by my lack of respect for his philosophy.
"In fact," I continued, my voice carrying effortlessly across the quieted arena, "since you're so utterly obsessed with predetermined outcomes, let me set one for you right now."
I raised one hand into the air, holding up five fingers.
"This match won't last longer than five minutes."
A shockwave of murmurs immediately rippled through the civilian stands and the shinobi sections. Up in the VIP box, I could practically feel the collective glare of the traditional Hyuga elders burning a hole into the back of my head.
To emphasize my point even more, I slowly lowered my hand and casually placed both of my arms firmly behind my back. I stood there, completely relaxed and open, offering to not defend at all.
Up in the stands, Ino gasped, leaning forward in her seat. "What is he doing? Has he gone crazy?!"
"He's totally leaving himself wide open!" Kiba yelled, his eyes wide.
"No, look at his posture," Sakura said. "That's not an opening. That's a challenge."
"A challenge?! How youthful!" Rock Lee expressed. "Then, he surely has a plan of action."
Back in front of me, the last thread of Neji's composed façade snapped. "You arrogant fool!" he snarled, as the veins bulging around his temples flared to life as he aggressively activated his Byakugan.
He dropped into the Gentle Fist stance, extending one hand forward and pulling the other back, his chakra flaring with lethal intent.
But as his pale eyes pierced through my physical form to read my chakra network, I watched his lethal intent falter for a fraction of a second. His eyes widened slightly.
Instead of a normal Genin's chakra coils, I assumed he must have seen a vast, bottomless abyss—a raging, monstrous ocean of dense yellow and pitch-black chakra that defied all logic. It must have been a pool of raw power so impossibly deep it made absolutely no sense for someone my age to possess it based on the perplexed expression he's giving off.
Up in the VIP box, the traditional elders hadn't bothered to activate their Byakugans—deeming a match against an outsider unworthy of the effort—but they immediately noticed the hesitation. "What is the boy waiting for?" one of the elders scoffed in annoyance. "Strike him down already!"
But Hiashi remained completely silent. Prompted by his nephew's uncharacteristic pause, the Clan Head flared his own Byakugan to life.
The moment his vision pierced my physical form, Hiashi's eyes widened. He saw the exact same bottomless ocean of chakra. His stoic mask cracked into a look of profound, silent dread.
"We shall see about that!" he snapped, desperately masking his sudden hesitation with pure rage.
I just smiled, keeping my hands resting comfortably against my back. "Whenever you're ready," I beckoned.
Genma looked between the two of us, his eyes lingering on my completely undefended posture for a second before he sharply dropped his arm.
"Begin!"
The moment Genma's hand dropped, Neji exploded forward.
He moved with incredible speed for a Genin, closing the distance between us in the blink of an eye. His pale eyes were wide, the veins bulging fiercely as he thrust two extended fingers directly toward the chakra pathway in my chest.
Hmm, decent speed, I noted, staying completely relaxed. But he's gonna need more than that.
The roar of the crowd faded into a low, distorted hum as the world slowed down around me. I didn't take my hands out from behind my back. I just casually swayed my upper body an inch to the right.
Neji's fingers pierced nothing but empty air.
His eyes widened in brief shock, but the instincts from his years of training instantly kicked in. He fluidly pivoted, unleashing a rapid, devastating flurry of Gentle Fist strikes. He aimed for my shoulders, my ribs, my neck, my thighs—every vital chakra point his Byakugan could see.
I effortlessly wove through every single one of them. I ducked, leaned, swayed, and stepped back, letting his fingertips graze my jacket by mere millimeters.
"You're going to have to strike faster than that," I taunted lazily, leaning backward as a palm strike sailed over my nose.
Neji gritted his teeth, his strikes growing more aggressive and frantic. "Stop dodging and fight!"
"I would," I replied, smoothly sidestepping a brutal jab. "But you see, you still have thirty seconds left before I do."
The crowd above us were losing their minds. To them, Neji was a blur of lethal precision, while I looked like a ghost effortlessly dancing through a rainstorm with my hands clasped behind my back.
"Do not mock me!" Neji roared. He channeled a surge of chakra into his legs, violently accelerating. He pushed me toward the edge of the arena, his Byakugan flaring as he mapped out my evasive pattern. He feinted a strike to my left side, forcing me to lean right, directly into the path of a devastating, full-power palm strike aimed squarely at my chest.
"Checkmate," Neji snarled.
But my body didn't connect with his palm. It just rippled.
Neji's hand thrust straight through my chest, dispersing the afterimage into a wisp of smoke.
Before he could even register what had just happened, he felt a sudden, casual weight settle directly onto his extended forearm.
Neji slowly looked up.
I was standing perfectly balanced on top of his outstretched arm, my hands still casually resting behind my back. I had used [SHISUI UCHIHA'S BODY FLICKER] to effortlessly reposition myself, leaving a phantom image behind.
Stunned silence fell over the Hyuga section in the VIP box. Hanabi gasped, and Hiashi gripped his chair so hard his knuckles turned white.
In the other section of the stands, Sakura and Ino were stunned into silence, while Kiba's jaw practically hit the floor. "Did anyone see him move?!" he yelled.
"Incredible," Hinata uttered in awe.
While Lee was nearly lost for words. "Amazing," he let out.
Up on the competitor's balcony, Shikamaru exhaled a long breath. "His speed... it's completely unreal."
A few feet away from him, Sasuke gripped the railing with enough strength to create tiny fractures, his Sharingan blazing to life as he desperately tried to process the sheer speed I had just displayed. On the other side of the balcony, Gaara was visibly trembling as his psychotic bloodlust spiked wildly in response to the overwhelming dominance.
"Your minute is up," I announced, looking down at Neji's horrified face. "If you have any last thoughts you want to get out, I suggest you do it now."
Neji's face twisted in sheer, frustrated rage. "You—!"
I didn't let him start.
The moment he opened his mouth I delivered a brutal, sweeping kick directly to his abdomen. The heavy impact sent him skidding backward across the floor. He dug his heels into the dirt, stopping his momentum as he clutched his stomach, coughing up a spittle of saliva.
I landed back on the ground, finally bringing my hands out from behind my back.
"Uh-uh. Most of these people have come a long way to be entertained," I said coldly, gesturing to the roaring crowd. "They've come to see a clash of potential titans. They didn't come here to hear you ramble on about your life. It's time to fight. It's time to defend what you believe in with your fist."
Neji steadied his breathing and glaring at me with an expression of pure hatred.
"And if death is what you truly believe we share," I continued, dropping my posture into a sprinter's stance, "then allow me to be your guide to that."
[SKILL ACTIVATED: SPRINT (MEDIUM OUTPUT)]
I dashed forward, shattering the ground beneath my boots. I moved so fast Neji didn't even have time to raise his guard. I grabbed him directly by the face, using my momentum to spin his body in a violent circle before hurling him across the arena.
Neji flew through the air, but contorted his body quickly enough to land safely on his feet.
But as he landed, I was already in the air, pulling a handful of shuriken from my pouch and hurling them at him.
[SKILL ACTIVATED: SHURIKEN SHADOW CLONE JUTSU (MEDIUM OUTPUT)]
The five metal blades instantly multiplied into five hundred, filling the sky with a lethal wave of razor-sharp steel raining directly down on the Hyuga prodigy.
Realizing he was completely boxed in, Neji expelled a massive amount of chakra from his body and spun.
"Rotation!" he bellowed as a massive, swirling blue dome of pure chakra erupted around him.
The storm of shuriken slammed into the dome, violently deflecting in every direction with a deafening cacophony of metallic clangs.
Gasps echoed through the stadium.
"The absolute defense of the Main Branch, mastered by a Cadet Branch member," I heard one Hyuga member say in sheer disbelief.
"That's it!" Tenten's voice cheered proudly from the stands. "That's Neji's ultimate defense! Naruto really can't touch him now!"
Wow, it's more expansive than I thought, I noted, landing softly on the floor. But pushing out that much chakra burns through his reserves rapidly. Let's see how long he can keep that up for.
I brought my fingers together into a seal.
POOF. POOF. POOF.
Three [SHADOW CLONES] materialized next to me. They immediately shot off, two of them taking a position directly in front of Neji, while the third flanked him from the rear.
I stood back, crossing my arms. "Last chance to give up."
Neji dropped out of his Rotation, panting slightly as he glared at me, an expression of sheer defiance plastered across his face.
I shrugged. "Have it your way."
The two clones in front of Neji blurred through a sequence of hand signs.
[SKILL ACTIVATED: FIRE STYLE: GREAT FIREBALL JUTSU]
[SKILL ACTIVATED: WIND STYLE: VACUUM WAVE]
A massive, roaring sphere of fire erupted from the first clone. The second clone exhaled a pressurized blade of wind directly into the flames, violently expanding the fireball into a raging, unavoidable inferno that swallowed half the arena.
"Rotation!" Neji yelled, instantly spinning back into his blue chakra dome to deflect the blistering heat.
But I wasn't just trying to burn him.
The third clone standing behind Neji slammed his hands into the floor.
[SKILL ACTIVATED: EARTH STYLE: EARTH-STYLE WALL]
A massive, curved wall of solid rock violently erupted from the ground, curving upward and over the Rotation like a half-pipe.
The raging Wind-Fire combo slammed into Neji's dome and splashed against the Earth wall. Because the heat and concussive pressure had nowhere to disperse, it was violently reflected straight back onto the Rotation, turning the arena floor into a pressurized oven.
Neji screamed in exertion, forced to pump three times as much chakra into his Rotation just to keep the superheated pressure from crushing his dome.
Now, I signaled to my third clone, still touching the Earth wall.
He shifted his chakra.
[SKILL ACTIVATED: EARTH STYLE: TEARING EARTH TURNING PALM]
The ground directly beneath Neji's spinning feet suddenly buckled and shattered. With his footing disrupted, Neji's spin staggered, and the Rotation immediately collapsed.
I immediately heard the uproar erupting from the Hyugas in the VIP box.
"Impossible!" one of the traditional elders gasped, practically leaping out of his seat in sheer disbelief. "The absolute defense... broken?!"
Hiashi, still gazing through his Byakugan at the terrifying ocean of chakra powering my clones, gripped his seat so hard the wood splintered. "He didn't just try to overpower the Rotation," he murmured to himself, his voice laced with profound shock. "He understood what he had to do to disrupt it."
"He turned Neji's own jutsu against him!" Kiba yelled, while Akamaru barked in excitement.
Tenten was nearly choking out Lee. "No way! He got past the Rotation?!"
"Tenten, your grip. I cannot breathe," Lee wheezed out.
"What a terrifying strategy," Shikamaru muttered from the competitor's balcony, as he analyzed the arena floor. "He used the Earth Wall to trap the heat, forcing Neji to expel more of his chakra, and then broke the ground beneath him so he couldn't maintain the spin. And he did it just by looking at the jutsu."
Before Neji could even recover his balance, my three clones surged forward through the dissipating smoke. They attacked relentlessly, battering the exhausted prodigy with a synchronized barrage of strikes, knocking him helplessly from one clone to the next while I watched with a smirk.
"So much for fate and destiny," I taunted loudly over the sounds of the beatdown. "They don't seem to be on your side at the moment."
After a few more minutes of watching my clones give Neji the 'Ole JJK special,' I raised a single hand and the three clones stopped battering him.
I then snapped my fingers and the clones instantly dispersed into plumes of white smoke, leaving the Hyuga prodigy stumbling forward. He caught himself before he could fall, dropping to one knee as he coughed violently. His clothes were dirtied and torn, and a thin trail of blood leaked from the corner of his mouth.
"Well?" I asked, my voice echoing across the stadium. "You gonna give up, or is fate still on your side?"
Neji slowly wiped the blood from his mouth. His chest heaved as he forced himself back up to his feet. His Byakugan flared with a desperate, blinding intensity.
"I am a Hyuga..." Neji gritted out, extending his right arm forward and pulling his left hand back. "I... will not lose!"
Interesting. Even with his hatred of the Main Branch, he still has enough pride about being a part of the clan itself, I mused. It's either Stockholm Syndrome or just another flaw of the shinobi system.
Then he got into a lower stance, and I was able to see a faint, green chakra array materialize beneath his feet, forming the intricate Yin-Yang symbol. The radius expanded rapidly, completely engulfing my position.
"You're in my field of divination!" Neji roared.
Ah, so I pushed him this far, huh? I thought, watching his chakra gather to his body.
"Eight Trigrams..." Neji blurred forward, pushing his exhausted body past its limits. "Two Palms!"
He thrust two fingers directly at my chest, but I effortlessly swatted his hand away with the back of my wrist.
"Four Palms!"
He struck four more times in a blindingly fast sequence. I wove my head to the left, ducked, and parried the last two strikes with my forearms.
"Eight Palms! Sixteen Palms!"
The barrage of strikes became a relentless, high-speed blur. The crowd gasped as the sheer speed of the Hyuga technique created a vacuum of air around us.
But to me, it was just a rhythm. And I was always two steps ahead of the beat.
I casually sidestepped, leaned, and parried. Every time his chakra-infused fingertips came within an inch of my tenketsu points, I shifted my weight, letting the lethal strikes hit nothing but empty air.
"Thirty-Two Palms!" Neji screamed, his arms moving so fast they looked like multiple limbs.
"The Sixty-Four Palms?!" An elder gasped in horror, the veins around his eyes bulging as he frantically activated his Byakugan to scrutinize the forbidden technique. "How does a Branch member know the secret techniques of the Main House?!?!"
"Forget that!" another elder shouted, his voice trembling as he pointed down at the arena. "Look at the Uzumaki boy's chakra network! It's monstrous! And he's perfectly parrying every single strike without a dojutsu!"
"He's reading the Gentle Fist like a book," Lee said in awe.
"All right! Go, Naruto!" Kiba cheered.
"Sixty-Four Palms!" Neji roared, unleashing the final, most devastating volley of strikes with everything he had left.
I swayed backward, letting the first ten strikes miss. I batted away the next twenty. I ducked under the next thirty.
As Neji lunged forward for the sixty-fourth and final palm strike, aiming directly for the center of my chest to shut down my heart, I finally went on the offensive.
I caught his wrist with my left hand, completely stopping the momentum of the final palm strike dead in its tracks, and stepped directly into his guard. Neji froze, his eyes widening in sheer horror as I drove an uppercut squarely into his jaw.
The sound echoed through the arena. Neji's feet left the ground completely as the force of the blow launched him directly up into the air. He soared twenty feet above the arena floor, completely disoriented and defenseless.
As he descended I moved underneath where his body would land, and held my hand up.
[SKILL ACTIVATED: RULER'S HAND]
I pulled him towards me, making it seem like gravity was just pulling him down, and caught him by the scruff of his clothing.
"Fate has no hold over me," I stated, lifting him up to eye level with one hand. "I'd never let something as boring as predetermined destiny chain me down." I placed him facing upwards on the ground, as he slowly began to dip into unconsciousness, his Byakugan now deactivated. "I'd forge my own destiny, and would keep forging it, till my dying breath."
The stadium was trapped in a state of stunned, breathless silence.
Genma slowly walked over to Neji, then looked up at me, and proceeded to raise his arm high into the air.
"Winner... Naruto Uzumaki!"
The silence finally shattered. A deafening, earth-shaking roar of cheers and applause erupted from the crowd.
"Did you see that uppercut?!" a Chunin screamed in absolute awe.
"He took down the Hyuga prodigy without even breaking a sweat!" a foreign ninja yelled, shaking his head in disbelief. "That kid is a different type of monster!"
"Uzumaki! Uzumaki! Uzumaki!" the stadium began to chant.
[SUB-QUEST (THE CAGED BIRD) COMPLETE]
[ALL BONUS CONDITIONS FULFILLED. BONUS REWARD GRANTED.]
[REWARDS OBTAINED]:
+5,000 XP
+50,000 Ryo
Item Acquired: Elixir of the Ascendant (Consumable) - A legendary potion that instantly restores 100% of HP, CP, and purges the body of all physical debuffs and poisons. And gradually restores 10% HP and CP every 5 minutes.
Bonus Item Acquired: Unique Accessory - Ring of the Unseen Path (Accessory) - A band pulsing with spatial awareness. Grants the wearer a passive 360-degree spatial radar within a 20-meter radius, rendering visual blind spots nonexistent. Increases the destructive output of combined elemental Ninjutsu (Combo Attacks) by 40%.
A flawless victory, an instant-heal, and a 360-degree radar buff, I grinned, dismissing the screens. Just in time for the main event.
As I began to make my way back to the viewing balcony, I glanced up at the Kage box.
The disguised Orochimaru was leaning forward in his seat. Even from a distance, I could practically feel his foul, serpentine chakra being deeply intrigued by the display of power I had just put on.
But my eyes shifted slightly to the side. Hiruzen was looking down at me, a proud smile on his aged face. I subtly narrowed my eyes at the "Kazekage" sitting beside him, giving the old Hokage a discrete, pointed look.
Hiruzen's eyes shifted. The proud smile remained, but he gave me a very subtle, almost imperceptible nod of acknowledgment. He knew the Kazekage wasn't who he appeared to be. He was ready.
I turned around and began the walk back toward the concrete stairs to the viewing balcony.
As the medical ninja rushed past me to collect Neji, I seamlessly tapped back into my [SHADOW LINK].
All units, I broadcasted to my shadow network, my demeanor shifting from a competitor back to a Monarch. The final match of the second round is next. Secure your positions. Things are about to get hectic.