Invitation to Battle

For Taijutsu training, Sasuke had already come up with several plans.

1: Have Naruto drop by from time to time and look for the invisible people around him. He could try freeloading on public resources.

2: Take the initiative to approach Chunin and Jonin after work, build rapport, then invite them to spar. But there was the risk that if he actually won, neither side would look good.

3: Wait endlessly for Might Guy to figure things out himself, for the Third Hokage to assign a mission, or spend money on a private tutor and have him sweat out the vigor of youth alongside him.

4: Find Naruto's future brother-in-law and have an inter-grade NO.1 PK with Neji.

The fourth option would guarantee that he could meet Might Guy within a year before officially graduating. It was undoubtedly the optimal solution with no Side Effect. Maybe he could even freeload his way into learning the Eight Gates together, without having to put much effort into building rapport.

As for whether learning too much would make him graduate early?

As long as the Third Hokage was still thinking about using the Sharingan to control the Nine-Tails, he probably would not put Sasuke in a class other than Naruto's.

The best way to make Neji familiar with him was naturally to run into him after school while he was training hard. Maybe sparks would fly the first time they met in private.

He was, after all, a "Hyuga Heavenly Shinobi." There was no way he would not train diligently after school.

If Sasuke had never seen Neji during his school days in the show, it was probably because he had not been paying attention to girls from other classes—specifically Hiashi's daughter, Hyuga Hinata.

Sasuke deliberately left school a little later and discovered that as long as Hinata did not immediately sneak off to spy on Naruto, Neji would occasionally run into her on the way past. He would politely come over to greet her or sarcastically urge her to train a little harder.

...Then he would head straight home.

Training at school or in some little grove simply did not exist. Then again, the Hyuga Clan was an old, powerful family. They had their own Training Hall at home, so naturally they had everything they needed.

Their indoor Taijutsu and Ninjutsu training conditions were naturally far more convenient than outdoors: clean and orderly, unaffected by wind or rain, with easy access to wash up whenever needed.

The plan could only be adjusted slightly. A chance encounter would not work, so it seemed he could only take the initiative.

Bloodline limits like the Byakugan and Sharingan could not be deceived by Genjutsu. Not only were they exceptionally sensitive to changes in the surrounding Chakra, they could even make Chakra visible.

Genjutsu in front of them? Activate the bloodline limit, and the real world would appear before their eyes. It would be obvious which sights were illusions made of Chakra.

Seeing Truth or False at a glance did not mean Genjutsu ceased to exist.

Bored out of his mind in class and waiting only for school to end, Neji saw several words appear before him—words only he could see.

"Do you dare to have a spar after school? I'll be waiting for you at Training Ground 2."

Genjutsu? Interesting.

Training Ground 2 was one of the dozen or so training grounds open to the public. It was in the urban area and fairly close to the school, but because it was small, students preferred the playground downstairs, while ninjas cared about privacy and did not think much of it. As a result, it was not especially sought after.

As long as someone occupied the spot from morning until evening, later arrivals who saw that someone had gotten there first would not specifically come over to fight for the right to use it.

Weak ninjas were busy slacking off. Chunin and Jonin went out on missions—after returning, would they really spend their few days of rest training hard?

Once someone became a ninja, they could train anywhere they wanted outside the village. As a result, many of the village's training grounds were not used very often.

A black-haired boy waited in the open space of the training ground. Sweat hung from the tips of his hair, and his clothes were slightly disheveled. As though he knew Neji was coming, he had already finished warming up.

The Uchiha crest on his clothes stood out especially clearly, its red, blue, and white colors sharply contrasting.

"What, you didn't dare challenge me openly at school, so you had to hide in a little grove like this? Are you afraid that if you lose, people will see and you'll lose face?"

"Hey, Sasuke's House."

Wow, what a cocky little brat.

But Neji was also the top student of his year and a member of one of Konoha's last remaining ancient noble clans. He was likewise surrounded by admirers in class. His looks might be slightly inferior to Sasuke's, but his treatment probably was not much worse. He truly had the capital to be proud.

Sasuke straightened his clothes.

"I should apologize for inviting you out this way."

"But no matter what you do, people surround you. You seem to enjoy that kind of treatment?"

Naturally, Neji had long heard of Sasuke's reputation. Though Sasuke was outstanding, having his entire clan die out seemed even more tragic than merely losing a father.

"I wouldn't say I enjoy it. But they worship the strong, and such things are unavoidable for people like us."

"If you have something to do, hurry up and start. Unlike you, I can't waste time however I please."

Neji decisively assumed the opening stance of the Hyuga Clan, waiting for Sasuke to attack. Although Sasuke had invited him, the boy before him was still a year younger. This was already bullying the weak. Among little ninjas who had not graduated, age and strength were usually directly proportional.

"Then I won't hold back."

For their first exchange, Sasuke still followed the rules and did not rush in to tear at him with all his strength. He did not even mobilize Chakra. After all, his purpose was not to defeat Neji, but to gain a long-term, reusable, upgradeable training partner.

After several probing exchanges, if this had been one of his classmates, Kiba was probably the only one who could have endured a spar at this level.

"Is that all you can do? Don't joke around. If you don't get serious, you're definitely going to lose."

"Then I won't hold back. Please be careful."

The intensity of the clash between them rose another level.

Sasuke had not yet activated his Sharingan, but Neji had no intention of slowly probing him.

The speed of the incoming attacks suddenly increased, along with waves of sharp pain wherever Neji's palms made contact. It was less like being pricked by needles and more like being stabbed by awls.

He was not a masochist. He had no desire to experience the treatment those princesses got.

Knowing that this was the Hyuga Clan's acupuncture technique, Sasuke did not intend to breathe fire at anyone, but neither did he want to keep taking hits. He immediately activated his Sharingan to counter him.

He could now clearly see the Chakra paths around Neji. It might not be as thorough and detailed as the Byakugan, but it came with a major enhancement to dynamic vision.

He only needed to avoid being hit head-on by Neji's palms. Dodging or blocking would both work.

Neji snorted coldly as veins bulged around his temples. Without forming Hand Seals, he activated the Byakugan.

The two entered an even faster phase of fists and kicks.

When he occasionally took a hit, it hurt, but there were no visible wounds. Sasuke could still endure it.

He had many ways to defeat Neji at his current stage, but this time, he wanted to drag things out.

He wanted to see how far Neji's limits could go.

Eight Trigrams Sixteen Palms!

Neji's current Eight Trigrams Palm did not seem like much of a Ninjutsu technique to Sasuke. It was merely a burst of rapid sixteen-hit attacks delivered in one breath. Sasuke failed to block in time and took three hits head-on, but the effect was quite good.

They exchanged blows, fought for a while, then separated.

Then they lunged at each other again, exchanged blows, fought for a while, then separated.

After repeating this four or five times, both of their movements had visibly slowed. Sasuke, panting, was the first to suggest stopping.

"How about we call it here for today?"

Neji also grinned tiredly.

"What, you can't beat me anymore? Do you want to surrender?"