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Naruto and all of its characters belong to Shueisha and Masashi Kishimoto.
I own nothing but the original characters I create.
"Dialogue"
'Thoughts'
-Author notes-
Chapter 90: Naruto vs Neji Part 3
Neji was sent flying this time and landed on his side, several feet away, with a loud 'thud' noise.
The audience was baffled, especially those familiar with the Hyuga Gentle Fist.
Naruto should have collapsed on the ground after receiving the full Sixty-Four Palms. Having all of your chakra points closed at the same time was incredibly painful, but he did not even flinch before slapping Neji again.
Neji coughed up some blood before attempting to stand back up.
That last slap had caused decent damage to his face, and his teeth had made several cuts to the inside of his mouth. There was nothing broken yet, but the swelling on his cheek was making it difficult to use his left eye.
Neji looked at Naruto and made sure that his technique had worked.
"It worked…" He could confirm with his own eyes that his opponent's sixty-four chakra points had been sealed successfully. But then…
"How are you still moving so fast?!" Why couldn't he react to the last attack? It made no sense.
He had assumed that Naruto was circulating large amounts of chakra throughout his body as a way to enhance his movement, like his teammate Lee does during his 'Eight Gates' technique.
But there were no signs of anything like that on his body. There was absolutely zero chakra circulating through his body right now, and still…
"No…" Neji denied. He must have lowered his guard at the end. That's why he got hit. All he had to do was attack Naruto again, and he would win.
Up at the stands, the audience was watching the contestants' moves with rapt attention.
Particularly at the seats reserved for the Hyuga family.
"Why is Neji having so much trouble? He should have won by now!"
Hanabi had never seen her cousin lose a fight, unless it was against her father. He was the number one genius of her clan, but now he was being tossed around like a novice.
Hinata had nothing to say to her sister. She also didn't know how Naruto had become so strong in such a short amount of time. Back at the academy, he would rarely win during the spars, even against some of the other civilian children from their class.
"This is very strange…" Hiashi Hyuga had his Byakugan active and was not taking his eyes away from Naruto. He had spotted something that shouldn't be there.
"What's wrong, father?" Hanabi noticed her father's odd reaction.
"That boy still has chakra in him… lots of it… a tremendous amount of chakra!" Hiashi exclaimed.
"But… that's not possible." Hanabi had also activated her Byakugan and could see as clear as day that no chakra was circulating through Naruto's body.
"There is something in his muscles and bones…" Hinata was the one who said this.
But then… she was forced to deactivate her jutsu and began to cough violently.
"Hinata!" Hanabi and the two attendants hurried to check on her.
"You shouldn't be forcing yourself like that !"
"Lady Hinata! Should we take you to the hospital? You are not completely recovered yet," one of the attendants said.
Hiashi glanced at his older daughter with interest. She was able to see it too, despite her condition.
"She is right… there is chakra infused in his bones and muscles… and it's not a small amount either." The Hyuga Lord was now truly concerned.
This was not the first time he saw something like this. Many have tried to permanently enhance their bodies with chakra, but the degree of success had varied greatly, and no one could be said to truly succeed in this.
"But if there is someone who did…" Hiashi muttered. His clan's signature technique would be of little use against someone who succeeded in mastering this method.
'Even if all their chakra paths were closed, they would still possess strength and speed, many times over the normal human limit.' The Hyuga Lord considered the terrible scenario where something like this became common knowledge, as this would be the end of their clan.
Back at the arena, Neji closed the gap between him and Naruto.
Since his Gentle Fist had already accomplished its purpose, it was now time to use normal Taijutsu to finish the job.
He aimed a vicious strike at Naruto's neck, hoping to knock him out before he could react.
But much like before, his attack was deflected with ease.
It was then that Neji realized that Naruto's speed had not decreased one bit after receiving the Sixty-Four Palms… if anything, it looked like he was moving faster now.
"No way! How are you doing this?!" Neji continued to launch one attack after another. His eyes were able to follow Naruto's every move, but still… he could not connect a single hit.
Neji felt the same as during his practice matches against his Sensei.
Gai would always handicap himself during their spars and would not abuse his superior strength and speed.
But even with that, Neji was never able to connect a strike on him. It was as if his Sensei always knew the best way to deflect his every move. This was pure skill and experience… the advantage that a Master would always have.
'This makes no sense!' Neji told himself. He was fighting another genin, and one younger than him. How could Naruto have a level of expertise high enough to suppress his Taijutsu?
At that moment, Neji spotted movement in Naruto's right hand. This was the one he had been using to hit him every time.
'Another slap!' Neji could not help but panic. Naruto had been progressively increasing the strength of every slap. The last one had already sent him flying and caused serious damage to his face.
The next one could shatter his bones…
Not wanting to take any more risks, Neji made use of his ultimate defensive jutsu.
Chakra coated his entire body before he twisted his torso around and began to spin.
"Revolving Heaven! (Kaiten)"
Right in front of Naruto, Neji created a semi-sphere of wind and chakra where nothing could pass through.
It was the absolute defense of the Hyuga Clan, and it could block even most ninjutsus.
However, this jutsu had a glaring weakness… the user cannot move from the spot during its entire duration. The timing of its use must be carefully calculated in order to block the attack with precision before deactivating.
In his panic, Neji used it too soon. Naruto had done nothing yet, so he didn't receive any deflective damage and could just remain standing in his spot with no issue.
After a few more seconds, Neji ended the Revolving Heaven and realized his mistake. But it was too late.
"Oh no…"
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