He Is Watching

ps: There was a slight error. Kankuro hadn't modified the Crow puppet at this point. I originally intended to ignore this point raised in the reviews, but I couldn't shake the feeling, so I decided to just make this the second update. I've revised it based on your feedback. Yawen8.

Seeing this result, Naruto, Hinata, and Sasuke exchanged surprised glances.

It seemed that due to Kabuto's group's absence, the matchups for this preliminary round had undergone a major change.

On the other side, Neji stood with his arms crossed, frowning. His white eyes swept over in that direction, and his gaze happened to meet Hinata's. Startled, Hinata quickly averted her eyes, while Neji let out a heavy snort.

It seemed he wouldn't have the chance to personally teach this young lady from the Main Family a lesson...

Neji didn't believe for a moment that the timid and cowardly Hinata could pass this preliminary round.

His Byakugan had already seen through that.

The Third Hokage watched Neji walk to the center of the arena in silence, contemplating the intention behind "that self" arranging Neji and Hinata together... Without a doubt, such a dramatic matchup was deliberately orchestrated, and the Third Hokage was well aware of it.

Just like what he had done moments ago, pairing two people in the audience.

Perhaps... he was looking favorably upon the exceptionally talented Neji and intended to nurture him, the Third Hokage thought.

At this moment, Kankuro had also taken his stance opposite Neji.

He frowned slightly, looking at Neji's pure white eyes. The opponent's gaze was as sharp as knives, as if it could pierce directly through his internal organs, and even his very soul... What troublesome eyes, Kankuro thought. Yawen8.

The other examinees gradually moved to the spectator stands on the second floor, leaving the arena to the two who were about to battle.

Kankuro untied the bandages on his back and placed a cocoon-like object on the ground.

"Then..." Gekko Hayate coughed, his dark circles prominent, "The first match of the preliminary round now begins."

Byakugan!

Neji sidestepped slightly, easily dodging the two kunai flying towards him. At this moment, Kankuro was already charging forward.

Veins bulged on both sides of his eyes. Neji's Byakugan rotated slightly, and his terrifyingly sharp insight instantly saw through Kankuro's true nature... Such a boring trick.

Kankuro wanted to engage in close-quarters combat, but Neji chose to sidestep and dodge. He pulled out a kunai and

threw it towards the white, cocoon-shaped object that Kankuro had previously unwrapped and placed on the ground.

"What is he doing..." Kiba wondered from the spectator stands.

On the other side, Hinata had activated her Byakugan. She exclaimed, "That's a puppet! The real body is inside that thing..."

Meanwhile, Neji had approached Kankuro's real body. He channeled chakra to his fingertips, his Byakugan already targeting the vital points all over the person hiding within the bandages. His Gentle Fist was poised.

Whoosh, whoosh—

A sound of air being cut echoed from behind Neji. It was two mechanical blades shot from the puppet Kankuro behind him, and judging by the blades, they were clearly poisoned. Yawen8.

However, Neji moved as if he had eyes in the back of his head. He dodged to the side, bending low, and placed his hands on the ground. He narrowly avoided the two mechanical blades attacking from behind his head. Simultaneously, he controlled chakra to spray from the acupoints on his feet, like short swords, directly severing the chakra threads with which Kankuro was controlling the two blades.

As the two blades fell powerlessly with a "clank, clank," the bandages flew, and Kankuro's true body appeared, holding a kunai and charging towards Neji, who was upside down.

But Neji remained incredibly calm. He didn't even need to look directly at Kankuro; his Byakugan's vision captured every movement of the opponent. His excellent insight instantly found the flaw in Kankuro's attack.

His arms bent slightly, his legs turned, and he accurately kicked Kankuro's kunai away. Neji pushed off with his arm, and his Gentle Fist slammed towards Kankuro's face!

Kankuro's lips curled slightly, and his fingers flicked. The two mechanical blades grazed the tip of his nose and stabbed upwards again, aiming for Neji, who was delivering the palm strike.

"Boring..."

Neji's expression remained unchanged, and he mocked coldly.

The puppet Crow had appeared behind Neji and opened the mechanisms in its chest and abdomen.

"This is bad!" Rock Lee exclaimed from the spectator stands, his heart pounding for his teammate Neji.

Chakra erupted from the acupoints all over his body, and Neji began to spin in place, turning into an afterimage. A powerful stream of chakra formed a hemispherical field around him!

Bang, bang! Both the flying blades and the Crow behind him were directly repelled by this swirling chakra field! Even Kankuro himself was sent staggering backward by the impact, utterly shocked.

"Is that... Rotation?!" Hinata exclaimed in shock from the spectator stands. She hadn't expected her brother Neji to be able to use the secret technique of the Main Family, the Rotation Palm Technique?

Although it seemed somewhat lacking and flawed compared to the Rotation her father performed, no one should have been able to teach him the Rotation technique!

Brother Neji... did he develop this technique himself?

Hinata was deeply shaken, completely impressed by Neji's talent. Compared to this cousin of hers, her own aptitude was truly insignificant. Let alone her, even her younger sister Hanabi would likely struggle to compare to Neji. It was no wonder that whenever her father, Hyuga Hiashi, mentioned this cousin, he would have such a complex expression.

Acupoint strike.

Neji looked down at his opponent with a cold expression. His Byakugan clearly saw that the chakra within his body was difficult to mobilize. He stated indifferently, "So, playing these kinds of tricks under these eyes... only makes me laugh."

"You bastard..." Kankuro said, covered in dust. Although he had known it would be difficult facing such an opponent, he still felt infuriated. Just as he was about to retort, a cold voice came from the spectator stands:

"Enough, you trash. Do you still want to embarrass the village?"

It was Gaara.

Gekko Hayate watched all of this expressionlessly. After confirming, he finally declared, "First match, Hyuga Neji wins."

That kind of defense... Sasuke mused from the spectator stands. Could his Chidori break through such a flawless defense? He thought about it, but without trying, he couldn't reach a conclusion.

Tsunade also nodded secretly. This boy named Neji indeed had excellent talent... However, the hatred this kid harbored for the Hyuga Main Family gave her a slight headache and required careful handling.

Neji deactivated his Byakugan and returned to the stands. Kankuro gathered his puppet parts and also left the arena.

The names on the electronic screen began to flicker again—

"So, the next match is..."

Beep. It stopped.

Gekko Hayate glanced at the screen and announced calmly, "Sakura Haruno versus Sakon."

"Tch, I thought it would be that Sasuke kid..." Sakon grumbled, clearly unhappy with the result. Seeing Sakura preparing on the other side, he sneered even more, "And it's a girl... how boring."

He jumped down directly, standing in the center of the arena, and declared with extreme arrogance, "Hurry up, don't waste this great me's time!"

Sakura felt a slight nervousness. This ninja from the Sound Village gave her a very bad, very dangerous feeling.

But now was not the time to be nervous.

Sakura walked to face Sakon. Without looking back or getting distracted, she kept her eyes fixed on her opponent.

This battle would be tough, but Sakura desperately wanted to win.

Because Sasuke-kun is watching me.

This was a rare opportunity, a chance for Sasuke to truly focus his gaze on her.

I must win, I must win, I must win.

The desire was so intense.