"My life is up to me!"
After hearing these words, Neji's pupils shrank sharply.
He looked shocked.
Like a stone dropping into a still pond, Yuichi's words shattered the silence inside him.
Neji suddenly raised his head, glaring at Yuichi.
"It's a bold claim. But your fate is already sealed."
Boom!
Neji moved without warning.
The other Genin hadn't even recovered from Yuichi's declaration before they saw Neji leaving an afterimage, rushing toward him at incredible speed.
Neji was furious.
As a member of the Hyuga clan's branch family, his destiny was shackled from birth.
Even his extraordinary talent couldn't break free from those chains.
Yet now, a mere commoner Genin dared to speak arrogantly about controlling his own fate.
That one sentence stung him deeper than any insult.
It was as if Yuichi had mocked his weakness—his inability to defy destiny.
"The Gentle Fist of the Hyuga clan… I've long wanted to test it."
Yuichi's calm gaze didn't waver as Neji charged forward. He shifted his stance slightly and raised his hands.
Bang! Bang!!
The sound of fists and feet colliding echoed through the field.
Yuichi twisted his body, deflecting Neji's strikes without directly meeting the force of Gentle Fist.
The Hyuga clan's taijutsu wasn't something to block head-on. Yuichi wasn't foolish enough to try.
But even though Neji was a Hyuga prodigy, Yuichi showed no fear.
His intermediate physique might not match the Third Hokage, Sarutobi Hiruzen, but it was enough to suppress Neji.
Their fists blurred into shadows, clashing over and over, until a swirling gust whipped around them.
"It's actually being blocked!"
"Yuichi… his taijutsu is on par with a Hyuga?"
The watching Genin were stunned. To their eyes, the two fighters seemed evenly matched. But in reality, Yuichi was pressing Neji back.
'This guy… he's just a civilian ninja?'
Neji's mind wavered. A commoner Genin was suppressing him.
Unwilling to accept it, he attacked with everything, aiming straight for Yuichi's chakra points.
But Yuichi gave him no opening. His strength and precise counters forced Neji onto the defensive.
Boom!!
Yuichi's punch landed squarely on Neji's chest, sending him staggering back.
"The Hyuga prodigy… was pushed back!"
"Yuichi, defeat him!"
"What a fierce battle…"
Neji slid back, his face dark. He straightened and snarled:
"Byakugan—activate!"
The veins around his eyes bulged as his dojutsu flared to life.
'So, he's serious now?'
Yuichi smiled faintly, unfazed.
Chakra surged through Neji's body, sending out a gust that blew toward Yuichi.
Yuichi focused, his own chakra condensing as he stepped forward like an arrow loosed from the string.
"Come then! You'll soon see that fate cannot be defied."
To Yuichi, Neji's obsession with destiny was nothing more than proof of his own unwillingness.
Before Yuichi could reach him, Neji suddenly vanished.
It wasn't the Body Flicker—just pure speed.
He reappeared behind Yuichi, lowering his body into a Tai Chi-like stance. One hand raised, the other pressed down.
"Gentle Fist method…"
Yuichi instantly realized what technique was coming.
Bang! Bang!!
"Two Palms!"
Neji's hands blurred, striking Yuichi's body. Chakra pierced his tenketsu.
Bang! Bang!!
"Four Palms!"
His strikes grew faster and heavier.
"Eight Palms!"
"Sixteen Palms!"
"Thirty-Two Palms!"
Finally—
"Eight Trigrams Sixty-Four Palms!!"
In the span of a single breath, Neji unleashed sixty-four strikes, each blow resounding like thunder.
Futa, Jidou, and the other Genin could only gape, jaws hanging open.
The storm of strikes was terrifying. Each impact sounded lethal.
Could Yuichi survive such an onslaught?
Before they could even shout—
Bang!
A puff of white smoke burst forth.
Neji's smirk froze on his lips.
"Body Replacement Technique!"
A shattered log crashed to the ground.
Neji's face twitched.
Even with Byakugan, he had unloaded all sixty-four palms on a wooden decoy.
Turning his head, he spotted Yuichi standing calmly on the other side.
"Are you mocking me?"
Yuichi chuckled lightly.
"I'm mocking you, alright. If you've got Byakugan, but you can't even see through a simple Body Replacement Technique… is that my problem, or yours?"
Neji's expression soured. It wasn't Yuichi's fault. The truth was, in that moment, he hadn't even cared if his strikes had landed.
"…Very good."
Neji lunged again, chakra surging in his palms. His speed was astonishing.
But then—he froze for a moment.
Yuichi's hands formed a seal.
'Ninjutsu?'
'A commoner Genin knows more than the Three Body Techniques?'
Whoosh!!
Water erupted around Yuichi, rising out of thin air.
"Water Style…?"
Neji's eyes widened.
The Hyuga clan specialized in taijutsu, but Neji wasn't ignorant of ninjutsu. He knew how difficult it was to use Water Style without a water source—most couldn't manage it at all.
And yet—
Boom!!
The surging water gathered, twisting into the form of a dragon.
"Water Style: Water Dragon Bomb!"
Bang!!
The water dragon roared, maw opening wide as it lunged at Neji.
The Genin on the sidelines gasped in disbelief.
Even without a river or lake nearby, Yuichi's Water Dragon Bomb was overwhelming, bursting forth with terrifying might.
The great dragon coiled and lunged, crashing down on Neji like a tidal wave.
Boom!!!