Hizashi Hyuga frowned.
The insight of the Byakugan allowed him to instantly calculate the outcome: his Chakra Point Needle might severely injure the opponent's waist, but that swinging punch containing terrifying power would strike his own head at the same time he landed the hit, causing him to lose consciousness.
In the instant of lightning-fast thought, the right hand that had been thrusting out instantly retracted, and his entire upper body leaned sharply backward like drifting cotton, while chakra erupted under his feet as he attempted to rapidly retreat.
And at the precise moment when Hizashi leaned back to evade the dangerous counterattack, his old momentum slightly spent and new strength not yet gathered, Isshin's right side, which had appeared wide open because of the punch, suddenly loosened its grip.
"Clang."
The faint sound of the katana falling to the ground was almost ignored.
In the next instant, in his now-free right palm, as if by magic, that ferocious-looking short-barreled firearm appeared once again, gleaming with cold metallic light.
The dark muzzle, from less than five meters away, was already aimed at Hizashi Hyuga, who was leaning backward to evade and whose movement had momentarily stalled!
The hearts of the entire audience seemed to be clenched by an invisible hand.
That move again?!
"Despicable!"
"Shameless! He's doing it again?!"
"No martial virtue!"
"Jonin Hizashi, be careful!"
In the spectator stands, waves of shocked cries and angry shouting instantly erupted.
Hizashi Hyuga's Byakugan saw everything clearly. He even saw the subtle movement of the firearm's hammer being pulled and the faint glow of the gunpowder in the barrel about to ignite.
Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!
Scorching flames flashed from the muzzle as seven bullets tore through the air at speeds almost impossible to see with the naked eye, forming a deadly barrage that shot toward Hizashi Hyuga.
And almost at the same time the shots were fired, the ground beneath Isshin's feet exploded again. Like a ferocious beast, he followed closely behind the barrage, lunging forward with even greater ferocity!
What kind of firearm is this? Why are the bullets so fast?!
In that instant, the same thought that Konoha's Jonin had yesterday flashed through Hizashi Hyuga's mind.
But he displayed the top-tier quality and decisiveness expected of a Hyuga Clan Jonin. His backward-leaning body was forcibly stopped, and both hands turned into a blur of afterimages almost impossible for the naked eye to capture.
Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!
Seven faint but clear muffled impacts almost overlapped into one sound!
Hizashi's palms danced before his body, leaving behind dazzling pale-blue chakra trails.
Like the most skillful catcher, he deflected, guided, grasped, and supported!
Of the seven incoming lead bullets, none escaped. All of them were caught by his hands wrapped in chakra, some pinched between his fingers, some clamped in his palms, some firmly lifted!
Catching bullets with bare hands!
The entire process was lightning-fast yet seemed effortless.
After catching the bullets, he quickly flung the bullets in his hands to the ground beside him, producing crisp clinking sounds.
"He caught them! He caught them with his bare hands!"
"My god! That's incredible!"
"As expected of a Jonin of the Hyuga Clan!"
The spectator erupted with thunderous amazement and cheers. This miraculous scene even temporarily overshadowed the anger at Isshin repeating the same trick.
However, the real crisis had only just arrived. No matter how fast Hizashi's movements were in catching and throwing away the bullets, it still consumed a sliver of time and distracted his mind for an instant.
And Isshin's storm-like barrage of punches and kicks had already arrived!
Hizashi Hyuga's expression was solemn. His hands, which had caught the bullets, instantly transformed into palms, and his Gentle Fists rose again.
He parried, blocked, turned, and shifted, deflecting Isshin's fierce and violent punches, elbows, and knee strikes one by one.
The sounds of fists and palms colliding rang out like a continuous chain of beads. Their figures rapidly crossed in the center of the arena, the battle intensely fierce.
The more they fought, the more frustrated Hizashi felt. Every time he tried to use Gentle Fist to break the opponent's attack rhythm, he was forced to switch to defense or deflection by the opponent's brutal fighting style that completely disregarded his own safety, exchanging injury for injury.
"This guy's Taijutsu is this strong too?!"
The spectators watched without blinking.
"His punches are so fast, and the power is so great. Even Jonin Hizashi seems to be avoiding the edge of it?"
"So what? Jonin Hizashi can even catch his bullets. Gentle Fist will definitely—"
The confident words of this spectator had not yet finished.
"Ugh!"
A short, muffled groan mixed with pain and shock suddenly came from the arena!
In the instant when their fists and palms crossed violently once again, their bodies closing in and both sides' techniques reaching their limit, Isshin's right foot, like a steel pillar, without any warning, extremely naturally, and even with the rogue-like air of a street fight, viciously stomped down on the toes of Hizashi Hyuga's slightly forward left foot!
Stomping on toes?!
This low-level move, akin to a child's cheating in a fight, occurred during the lightning-fast duel between two Taijutsu masters had an immediate impact!
"Despicable!"
"How can he stomp on someone's toes?!"
"Th-this is a move only children use when fighting! So shameless!"
The spectator instantly erupted. Many villagers were stunned by this sudden change in style, followed by even stronger contempt and anger.
And this instant of flaw was exactly what Isshin wanted!
A sharp glint flashed in his eyes.
Seizing the moment when Hizashi's body stalled from the sharp pain in his toes and the rhythm of Gentle Fist was interrupted, Isshin's right leg that had just stomped the toes did not even retract. His knee had already bent like a fired cannonball, surging forward with unstoppable force and smashing viciously toward Hizashi's chest and abdomen, which had slightly lowered in pain and were wide open!
If this strike landed solidly, even if the battle did not immediately decide victory, the rhythm of the fight afterward would completely fall under Isshin's control!
At the critical moment, the chakra within Hizashi Hyuga erupted at an unprecedented speed!
Eight Trigrams: Palm Rotation
Powerful and condensed pale-blue chakra burst out from the major chakra points of his body. At the same time, his feet rotated in place with extremely small movements but astonishing speed.
The surging chakra, combined with the rapid rotation of his body, instantly formed an airtight, high-speed spinning spherical chakra shield that completely enveloped him!
Isshin's vicious knee strike slammed solidly into this suddenly appearing absolute defense!
Boom!!
With a muffled sound, the chakra at the point of impact surged violently!
The characteristics of rotation, its high-speed spinning combined with powerful spiral force and fierce rebounding energy, are fully manifested.
Isshin immediately felt a powerful spinning recoil force transmit up his leg.
His sturdy body was shaken backward several steps by the force. His offensive momentum halted, and his body briefly stalled, exposing an opening due to the sudden recoil.
"Great! It's the Hyuga Clan's Palm Rotation!"
"Hmph! This is absolute defense! No matter how strong he is, it's useless!"
"As expected of a Hyuga Clan Jonin!"
From the spectator stands came waves of cheers and relieved celebration.
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