Neji frowned, a ring of azure flashing around the outer edge of his Byakugan's pupils.
Then, it began to move its feet in a certain pattern, and a fluorescent light would illuminate each step as it landed, especially when it took its last step.
A huge, pale blue radiance rose from the ground, forming the Earlier Heaven Eight Trigrams.
The surrounding storm seemed to slow down at that moment, becoming exceptionally viscous.
The left hand, representing the Earth element (Kun) and Water element (Kan), features a flow of black and dark blue Chakra; the right hand, representing the Heaven element (Qian) and Thunder element (Zhen), features a flow of white and bright gold Chakra.
Between the two palms, a black and white Tai Chi ball spread out.
The flow of Chakra between his hands created a suction force, and a force field emanated from him, releasing high-frequency shockwaves.
"Secret Technique: Yin Yang Soft Spiral!"
After Neji compressed the two spiral energies in his hands to their limit, Byakugan stared directly at the Sand Tsunami coming towards him and gently pushed out a palm strike.
First came a moment of calm, followed by an extreme expansion of destructive energy.
A pure white, spherical shockwave shot straight toward the rapidly surging Sand Tsunami.
Boom--
A deafening explosion, louder than the human ear could bear, rang out.
The overwhelming Sand Tsunami was instantly dispersed, leaving countless explosions in its wake.
The ground shattered, and Gaara was directly hit, lost consciousness and fell from mid-air.
"Call--"
Neji exhaled deeply, his aura weakening slightly.
Seeing the figure in the distance, he retreated without looking back.
Gaara!
Temari rushed over from afar and saw Gaara falling from mid-air. She ran towards him as fast as she could.
Snap--
At the last moment, Temari leaped forward and caught Gaara as he fell, the force propelling her forward for about ten meters.
"Temari! Gaara!"
Kankuro, who arrived a step later, saw this scene and quickly ran over.
Just as he helped Temari, he heard his older sister urgently shout, "Quick! Kankuro, take Gaara and get out of Gaara!"
Temari shouted in a panic, not only because she was afraid that Gaara's attack, Neji come looking for her, but also because she was afraid that there were other people around.
Gaara is currently unconscious, and if they stay here, they won't be able to protect Gaara.
"Alright!" Kankuro's expression changed, and Gaara on his back.
The two of them Body Flicker Technique disappeared from their original spot.
Snap--
A figure appeared on the sandy ground, its vertical pupils scanning its surroundings.
"Interesting... I didn't expect there would be Genin of skill participating."
As she spoke, her uncontrollable excitement caused the woman who had appeared there to stick out her long tongue.
"Hehe... Haha!"
The maniacal laughter carried far in this deserted area.
Um?
The deathly face turned to look in one direction, and unconsciously uttered, "Tsk, Jonin's Chakra, huh."
A gust of wind swept by, and the eerie figure vanished from the spot.
Several figures appeared at the edge of the sand flow, with Kakashi, who was in the lead, looking around warily.
Although it was only for a moment, he sensed a threat.
"Someone just left..."
"Kakashi- senpai, the sand flow here still retains huge ripples."
Tenzo squatted down, picked up a handful of sand with his fingers, and turned to look at Kakashi.
"Ah, it seems both sides have left."
Kakashi scratched his head and replied lazily.
They had already arrived when Neji used it, but they seemed to be a little slow.
Not only did the two sides who were fighting leave, but it seems that someone else arrived here even faster than them.
"Senior, what should we do?"
Tenzo looked at the vast sand flow before him and asked uncertainly.
"What can we do? Let's inform the Lord Third."
Kakashi waved his hand. Now that everyone's gone, there's no point in dwelling on it.
"Search around and see if anyone is buried."
Kakashi waved his hand and gave instructions to the ninjas behind him.
"Yes!"
As the figure disappeared, Kakashi looked around. There used to be surveillance cameras in this area, but they seemed to have been damaged before the battle.
"It was already troublesome enough, but then some monsters came in too."
Kakashi sighed helplessly.
Tenzo behind him nodded in agreement; such a wide-ranging Ninjutsu was rarely seen even among Jonin.
Now it's even appearing in the Chunin Ninja Exams.
--
Hey, Sasuke!
Naruto was walking through the dense forest, suddenly stopped and called out to Sasuke ahead.
"Hmm, a very large Chakra fluctuation."
Sasuke nodded; he had noticed it for a split second as well.
It's just that the distance is too far, so it's not very clear.
Hinata, standing next to Naruto, touched the area around her eyes. She had just had a feeling that the Chakra fluctuations were Neji's.
"It should be Neji's. I'm very familiar with his Chakra, although it's slightly different."
Naruto looked with slight worry in the direction from which the energy wave had just been transmitted.
For Neji to react like this, he must be a very difficult opponent.
"Don't worry, we know Neji's strength even better."
Hearing Naruto say it was Neji's, Sasuke felt relieved.
Having trained together for so many years, how could they not know Neji's strength?
Besides, their teacher had recently said that Neji had made great progress and that they should be careful.
Be careful not to get overtaken.
Naruto smiled upon hearing this. Yes, rather than worrying about Neji, we should worry about the person Neji attacked like that.
I imagine things are very bad right now.
--
Gaara! Hang in there!
Beneath a giant tree hollow, Temari's face was filled with anxiety.
He kept taking out bandages and some herbs, which he hadn't noticed while on the road.
It wasn't until she arrived at this tree hollow that she noticed some of Gaara's injuries.
Given the regenerative abilities of Jinchūriki, they should have already recovered.
But even now, Gaara's injuries are still worsening, and even the surface of his Sand Armor is constantly peeling off.
This sign indicates that Gaara has lost the ability to actively maintain the Sand Armor.
"Temari, how is she?"
Kankuro was on guard outside, looked into the cave and asked with a worried expression.
"It still doesn't work..."
The bandage in Temari fell to the ground, her eyes lifeless.
She wasn't medical-nin and didn't know how to treat Gaara's injuries.
"You said... should we launch the signal flare directly, or... go to the Central Tower?"
Kankuro approached Temari and looked at Gaara, who, even in his unconscious state, still had a furrowed brow.
A look of struggle appeared on his face, and after a long while, he spoke in a hoarse voice.