Once the two took their positions in the arena, Neji's expression turned icy.
Naruto was starting to regret all those complaints about the Hyuga Clan he had made through the God of Shinobi puppet. After aggravating the internal conflicts within the Hyuga Clan, karma had come full circle and landed back in his hands.
Damn it, so this was karmic retribution?
Uneasy, Naruto glanced at Neji across from him. The other boy's face was so gloomy it looked like water could drip from it, making Naruto shudder.
Good thing he had chosen to fight in Hinata's place. Otherwise, little Hinata might have been inexplicably screwed over by him.
That guy looked terrifying when he went dark. He would definitely hit hard!
"Lady Hinata, I didn't expect to face you," Neji said to Hinata.
At that moment, Naruto was controlling Hinata's body. He could speak with Hinata in the consciousness space while also controlling her body to talk. Naturally, Hinata in the consciousness space could sense every sound outside as well.
"Brother Neji." Hinata's mood was clearly low in the consciousness space.
Naruto, however, did not care about that. The matter of right and wrong was already obvious—the Hyuga Main Family was downright inhuman.
But first, he had to keep Hinata safe. They could sort out everything else later.
"Yeah, I didn't expect it either," Naruto replied reluctantly. He really could not bring himself to call Neji "Brother Neji."
At the same time, Naruto controlled Hinata's body to take half a step back, his habitual opening stance in battle. This was definitely a high-level match. He did not know much about the Hyuga Clan's techniques, so he could only figure things out as he went.
He also had to keep an eye on his chakra reserves while fighting, lest he run