"Hey, Neji, why's your face so red?"
"Don't tell me you're embarrassed?"
Noticing the flush on the boy in his arms, Jin raised an eyebrow, a little surprised.
The Neji from the original story had been a proud, cold, and quiet boy in his early years.
Even if he was all bark and secretly warmhearted, he shouldn't have gotten embarrassed so easily, right?
The next second, Jin understood.
This wasn't embarrassment. It was anger.
"Shut your mouth!"
Neji roared, his little face turning bright red.
He didn't like Hinata.
And he didn't like men who got handsy, either!
As soon as he finished speaking, he raised his hand and struck!
Gentle Fist!
Smack!
He struck once, then pulled back.
"Oh, so you're lashing out because you're embarrassed."
Jin brushed off his clothes, unfazed.
That Gentle Fist strike hadn't even broken through his defenses.
"N-no, you're fine?"
Seeing Jin looking completely unaffected, Neji froze.
He'd deliberately struck a joint where Chakra flowed!
Even an adult would feel the effects of a forceful blow there for quite a while, let alone a child.
Then his expression shifted.
Veins bulged around his temples, spreading like a spiderweb.
Byakugan!
The next second, he stared at Jin, his gaze blazing.
Then Neji's raised hand froze. "H-how is this possible?!"
In his vision, Jin's Chakra, five meters away, was seamlessly unified throughout his body, perfectly balanced.
That was a state only a Jonin with many years of training could possibly achieve!
"N-no, could I have seen it wrong?"
Confused, he turned to look at the clan head,
"No, the clan head's Chakra looks like that too..."
"How could Uchiha Jin have trained to the same level as the clan head?!"
He was dumbfounded.
His hands hung in midair, still poised to use the Gentle Fist.
But he no longer knew how to attack.
With Jin's Chakra seamlessly unified, Neji's Gentle Fist couldn't break through.
Let alone disrupt the flow of his Chakra.
So... could he only use that technique?
After hesitating for a moment, Neji closed his eyes and took a deep breath.
The short locks of brown hair on either side of his head swayed gently.
Chakra grew denser between his hands.
"That's..."
"It looks like the Gentle Fist Art: Eight Trigrams Palm..."
In the distance, Hyuga Hiashi and the clan elder saw the unmistakable opening stance and widened their eyes again.
They exchanged a look, both surprised.
That was a technique only the Main Family could master. When had someone from the Branch Family learned it?
"No one taught him... Could he have figured it out on his own?"
A flicker crossed Hiashi's eyes.
He wasn't angry that someone from the Branch Family had learned the Main Family's technique.
He was only surprised—and delighted.
He looked at little Neji, whose features faintly resembled Hizashi's.
Then he looked at his own gentle, timid eldest daughter. At that moment, Hiashi fell silent.
"Perhaps... Hinata really isn't suited to inheriting the Main Family?"
"If Hanabi takes over, then Hinata..."
Slowly, he turned his gaze back to Jin.
His eyes gleamed.
No one knew what he was thinking.
In the courtyard,
Neji's body began to change.
Chakra surged in his palms!
His Byakugan activated, and veins bulged around his eyes!
His vision seemed to pierce through Jin's body, precisely locking onto the sixty-four Chakra points throughout him.
"So what if his Chakra's perfectly balanced? If I strike the same point repeatedly, it'll work eventually!"
He muttered, then shouted,
"Gentle Fist Art: Eight Trigrams Sixty-Four Palms!!"
The next second, his hands became a blur as he struck.
Smack, smack!
The strikes fell like raindrops.
The first two blows landed on Jin's collarbones, attempting to block the flow of Chakra to his arms!
Smack, smack, smack!
The next four strikes hit his chest!
A blow to the meridians around the lungs would leave an ordinary person barely able to breathe.
Those were only the opening strikes.
As Neji spun faster and faster, the speed of his blows surged!
Eight palms!
Sixteen palms!
Thirty-two palms!
His small hands rained down, striking the same spot on Jin's back!
If one strike didn't do it, then two!
If two weren't enough, then four!
He believed that even an adult ninja couldn't withstand such a rapid, unrelenting barrage!
At last, the sixty-four strikes were complete.
The Chakra he had gathered at his fingertips erupted in a blast of air.
Boom!
The force of the strike sent spiderweb cracks across the courtyard floor.
The final blow also sent dust flying everywhere.
Dust filled the air, obscuring everyone's view.
"D-did it work?"
Neji panted lightly, his gaze fixed on the cloud of dust in the center.
Unlike his tense focus, the other boys who had been knocked down looked thrilled.
"That was the Eight Trigrams Sixty-Four Palms! Neji actually learned it in secret!"
"Great, every hit landed!"
"Hmph! I've hated that Uchiha for ages!"
"Jin..." Hinata alone gazed into the dust with worry.
She wanted to go to him, but didn't know what to say...
One second.
Two seconds.
Three seconds.
A few seconds later, the dust cleared, gradually revealing a handsome face.
"Whew, Neji, it's a shame you didn't become a massage therapist."
Jin rolled his neck and shoulders, his whole body crackling.
That felt great!
After a session like that, not only was his arthritis gone—even the frozen shoulder he'd gotten from lying on his side in the same position for years had been healed!
Incredible. Absolutely incredible!
Jin stretched.
Seeing the notification that the interaction had failed, he stopped wasting time and reached out toward Neji.
He smiled faintly. "Eight Trigrams: Air Palm."
Boom!
A compressed blast of air shot out like a cannonball.
With his Byakugan activated, Neji saw the air blast clearly.
He even tried to dodge to the side.
But the moment he tried to move, a tremendous force struck his abdomen.
The next instant, he was sent flying.
High into the air.
Then he crashed heavily to the ground.
Boom!
Dust rose again in the courtyard.
But this time, all the Hyuga boys fell silent.
More precisely, they were stunned into silence.
Even the slowest among them could see what had just happened.
Gulp.
Gulp.
The only sound in the courtyard was the boys swallowing nervously.
"Hm? Do you still want to try?"
Jin smiled and turned to survey the courtyard.
He was short, and his voice wasn't loud, but after those words, not a single boy dared meet his gaze.
They quietly lowered their heads.
Their faces flushed.
This time, it was from anger and shame.
Seeing this, Jin nodded, then beckoned to Hinata. "Come."
"Ah..."
Hinata, who'd been gazing at him in a lovestruck daze, jumped. Before the joy had even faded from her face, Jin pulled her over.
Step, step, step.
He led little Hinata over to Neji, then leaned down.
The Three Tomoe in his eyes glowed an eerie red:
"Neji, she's your little sister."
As he spoke, he patted Hinata's small hand, then turned and walked away.
His steps were calm and carefree.
He didn't care in the slightest about the courtyard full of Hyuga boys he'd left knocked down behind him.
When he reached the entrance, he saw the notification in front of him and could no longer hold back.
He shoved his right hand into his hair, covered his forehead, and bent over.
Head bowed, he burst into laughter!
"Hahahaha!"
Laughing, he looked back at the red-faced Hyuga boys and murmured,
"Next week, I'll be back."
Before you continue