"Want to use Eight Trigrams Sixty-Four Palms against me?"
Hyūga's Gentle Fist was indeed a formidable technique—
But!
You still have to land a hit!
With a sharp breath, Hyūga Neji burst forth with terrifying speed, dashing straight at Yuichi.
The water behind him splashed outward in a wide fan, white waves racing across the surface as if to herald his charge.
The chakra surging through Neji's body made the Hyūga spectators suddenly sit up straighter, eyes gleaming with anticipation.
Because what Neji was about to unleash was no ordinary Gentle Fist.
"This is… Eight Trigrams Sixty-Four Palms!"
"Neji has mastered it? That technique is the Hyūga clan's most guarded secret!"
"He didn't just learn Revolving Heaven—he mastered Eight Trigrams Sixty-Four Palms all on his own…"
"His talent… it might be the greatest in Hyūga history!"
The branch family ninja whispered in awe, unable to contain their shock.
Everyone in Konoha had at least heard of the Eight Trigrams Sixty-Four Palms.
They all knew how terrifying its precision and lethality could be.
But for a branch house child to awaken the Zong family's secret art, and to do it relying solely on his own genius—
That was monstrous talent.
"Water Style—Raging Waves!"
Boom!
Yuichi suddenly pressed his palms together and thrust them forward.
The water around him trembled, then surged like a living beast.
In an instant, the placid training ground transformed into a furious torrent.
Water exploded upward, surging into a towering waterfall that crashed down toward Neji with the roar of a collapsing dam.
The vast cascade blotted out the sky as it swept forward, swallowing Neji whole.
It was ninjutsu unleashed at terrifying speed—vast in scale, overwhelming in power.
The crowd, who had only moments ago been marveling at Neji's brilliance, froze mid-cheer.
Eight Trigrams Sixty-Four Palms was devastating if it landed. Not only would it grievously injure the target, it would sever all chakra flow in their body—leaving them unable to fight again.
But Neji hadn't even managed to begin his assault.
Yuichi's massive Water Style had already engulfed nearly the entire field.
Neji couldn't even get close.
"Damn it—!"
He tried to halt his charge, but momentum carried him forward, straight into the raging current.
Being struck head-on by a Water Style wasn't just about brute force—the water carried chakra within it.
A direct hit could be crippling.
Realizing he couldn't stop in time, Neji reacted instantly.
If he couldn't stop—then he would push through.
He burst forward even faster, leaping at the last moment toward the towering waterfall.
"Revolving Heaven!"
Whrrr!
Chakra erupted from every tenketsu, spinning his body into a blinding sphere of rotation.
The absolute defense of Revolving Heaven smashed against the descending flood.
The crushing weight of the water pressed down mercilessly, shrinking the sphere's radius.
But Neji held firm.
The water was flung outward, spraying into the air and spiraling into a waterspout around him.
Boom, boom, boom!
The deafening roars shook the arena.
Gritting his teeth, Neji endured, waiting for Yuichi's jutsu to exhaust itself.
By the time the raging waterfall subsided, Revolving Heaven had consumed nearly all of Neji's chakra reserves.
But he had survived.
And more importantly—he had closed the distance.
"…Where is he?"
Panting, Neji steadied himself on the rippling surface of the water.
Yuichi was gone.
Genma Shiranui tilted his head upward with a faint smile.
Neji followed his gaze.
High above, twenty meters in the air, Yuichi hovered—his coat whipping in the violent winds.
Hands clasped at his chest, he looked down with a faint, mocking smile.
"Feel the power of a Genin's technique bombardment, Hyūga Neji."
Hum!
Chakra erupted from Yuichi like a volcano.
The violent surge split the air with a thunderclap, waves of energy rippling outward so forcefully they seemed almost tangible.
A buzzing ring formed in the sky, spreading rapidly as the air trembled.
Every pair of eyes—Hyūga, Leaf shinobi, even the civilians—locked on him in stunned silence.
The sheer volume of chakra was terrifying enough for even non-shinobi to feel its weight.
"Water Style…"
"Water Dragon Bomb…"
With a resounding boom, chakra condensed the moisture in the air.
From nothing, a torrent of water spiraled into existence—
A massive dragon of roaring currents coalesced, mist curling off its form as it circled menacingly around Yuichi.
Its gaze locked onto Neji below.
With a deafening roar, it plummeted.
Neji's eyes narrowed.
'He has plenty of water here already… and yet he's conjuring Water Style in midair? Why?'
There was no time to think.
Neji braced himself—his only option was to use Revolving Heaven again.
Crash!
The dragon smashed into him.
The force shattered his rhythm, nearly breaking his defense.
"Jumping from the air—using the fall to amplify the Water Dragon Bomb's power?" Genma muttered, half in awe, half in disbelief.
But before Neji could recover—
Boom!
Another dragon crashed down.
The first hadn't even dissipated fully into rain before the second descended.
The audience gasped and craned their necks upward.
What they saw left them speechless.
Above them, Yuichi floated amidst the storm—surrounded by an endless array of roaring water dragons.
Each one spiraled into existence before diving mercilessly downward.
Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh!
One after another, the Water Dragon Bombs rained down in a relentless barrage.
In the span of three seconds, more than ten dragons had already struck the arena.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
The impacts shook the training ground like thunderclaps.
Water surged higher and higher, rising by the tens of meters in an instant.
The battlefield had become an ocean.