Exploring the Summoning Realm

The Summoning Realm is immense. Because the environment is not very suitable for human survival, very few civilians ever set foot there.

Neji had only found scattered bits of information about the Summoning Realm from his clan's ancient texts, with no detailed guides. The Hyuga Clan truly didn't pay much attention to Summoned Beasts, completely indulging in the power derived from their own Gentle Fist and Byakugan. In a way, the Hyuga Clan was just as arrogant as the Uchiha Clan.

Without any system-provided intel, this was precisely why he chose to explore the Summoning Realm only after his strength reached the standard of an elite Jonin. The unknown was always the most dangerous.

Not long after entering the Summoning Realm, Neji sensed a faint, strange aura in the air. Upon closer inspection, he found that this aura contained a mild toxin. In the surrounding tall forests, poisonous insects occasionally crawled by, along with traces left by fierce beasts.

It really was an unfriendly place, practically a giant version of the Forest of Death!

Neji activated a chakra shield to filter the air and opened his Byakugan to survey his surroundings!

He was shocked by what he saw. Within a five-kilometer radius, there were seven or eight Summoned Beasts containing at least 3000 units of chakra, and nearly twenty more with 1000-3000 units of chakra!

He himself only had a meager 1400 units! Compared to them, he instantly felt incredibly weak.

However, running away dejectedly felt a bit unwilling. He decided to find a Summoned Beast to test his skills. If it proved impossible, what good was pride if it couldn't be eaten?

He chose a blue wolf about eight hundred meters away. There was only one blue wolf, with no other Summoned Beasts within several hundred meters. It stood about three meters tall and six meters long, containing approximately 2000 units of chakra.

Judging by its chakra, it seemed to lean towards the wind element, likely a blue wolf that used wind chakra.

After observing the situation, Neji cautiously approached the blue wolf. The blue wolf was quite alert. Although it was lying down resting, it would still lift its head occasionally to scan its surroundings, ready to attack or flee at any moment.

It wasn't until Neji was about two hundred meters away that the blue wolf detected something amiss. It immediately stood up alertly, quickly scanned its surroundings, and finally locked its target onto Neji.

Upon discovering Neji was alone, the blue wolf showed no fear. Instead, it assumed an attacking posture, baring its fangs, bending its hind legs, and lowering its body, appearing ready to pounce at any moment.

Neji stopped advancing, standing his ground and assuming the starting stance for Gentle Fist. He used his Byakugan to observe the blue wolf's pressure points and memorized them. Neji could easily pinpoint human pressure points even without his Byakugan, but the blue wolf's body was different. To maximize damage during combat, a careful observation of its acupoint locations was quite necessary.

Thus, the two sides remained in a standoff! Neither made a rash move.

Neji's Eight Trigrams Array had a maximum coverage range of 150 meters. The closer the coverage range was contracted, the stronger the Eight Trigrams Array became. When contracted to a ten-meter radius at the center, its strength was at its peak, almost reaching the level of a domain. However, maintaining such an intense domain consumed an astonishing amount of chakra. Currently, it could only be used as a surprise tactic, occasionally to trick opponents. Zabuza was one of those who had been tricked quite badly.

Neji prepared to repeat his trick. He retracted the Eight Trigrams Array, secretly gathered his strength, and occasionally unleashed an Empty Palm to provoke the blue wolf.

Although the blue wolf possessed a certain level of intelligence and knew to avoid danger, its wisdom was ultimately limited. After being hit a few times by the Empty Palms Neji unleashed from nearly a hundred meters away and finding they caused no real harm, it gradually lost its patience.

It lunged forward, dodging an Empty Palm, then gathered power in its hind legs and instantly accelerated towards Neji. The distance was not great to begin with, and this acceleration rapidly closed the gap between them.

As it ran, the blue wolf opened its massive maw, and a ball of blue energy began to accumulate within.

Neji, who intended to test the blue wolf's strength, did not interrupt its attack. Instead, he assumed the starting stance for Rotation, preparing to defend.

In just two breaths, the fully charged blue wolf roared, and dozens of blue wind blades attacked Neji.

Seeing the dozens of massive wind blades flying towards him, Neji actually felt relieved. Although the blue wolf's chakra reserves were enormous, its ninjutsu activation speed was slow. Two breaths were enough time for Neji to interrupt the blue wolf's jutsu three times! Moreover, while the ninjutsu appeared formidable, it wasted a lot of chakra and was poorly condensed.

With these wind blades, Neji activated "Gentle Fist - Rotation" and easily blocked them.

He no longer intended to probe the blue wolf's strength. By now, the blue wolf was less than thirty meters away.

Neji slightly lowered his body, condensing a large amount of lightning-style chakra in his right hand and instantly performing a nature transformation. A sharp sound erupted, like the cries of thousands of birds!

Aided by his Byakugan, he locked onto the blue wolf. Stimulated by the lightning-style chakra, Neji's speed surged. He rapidly closed in on the blue wolf and fearlessly collided with the giant paw that came at him.

With a "sizzle," the highly condensed lightning-style chakra cut through the giant paw unimpeded and continued its momentum, piercing the blue wolf's heart.

The blue wolf looked back and saw its heart had been impaled. Its simple brain struggled to comprehend what had happened. But without blood supply to its heart, regardless of whether it could understand, the rapidly draining life force caused it to die quickly.

Neji, splattered with blood, felt extremely uncomfortable. This was why Neji had been reluctant to engage in close-quarters combat in the previous encounters. Setting aside the danger of close combat, just the possibility of being covered in blood and gore at any moment made Neji, who had transmigrated from modern times, very resistant.

However, this was the wilderness, and the danger had not yet passed. Neji didn't dwell on it. He found a water source, cleaned himself up briefly, and then continued his search for his target.

Through the battle with the blue wolf, Neji felt slightly more at ease. Although Summoned Beasts generally had vast chakra reserves, this was built upon their massive bodies. Their huge size provided immense physical energy, which, combined with a certain amount of spiritual energy, allowed them to refine enormous quantities of chakra.

However, Summoned Beasts generally had low intelligence and lacked systematic training in chakra control. As a result, they possessed vast chakra but couldn't use it flexibly. Activating a ninjutsu often yielded half the result for twice the effort. It was difficult for them to pose a threat to ninjas of equivalent strength. However, when combined with their massive size, it was hard to say who would win or lose in a fight against a ninja of equal strength.

Neji felt it was still within his controllable range of danger. As long as he didn't encounter the systematically trained Summoned Beasts from the three great Sage Lands, the pressure wouldn't be too great.

In the recent battle, Neji had used Kakashi's renowned ninjutsu, "Chidori." This was something he had managed to "copy" after much trial and error while practicing lightning-style chakra nature transformation.

Neji planned to avoid using this technique against opponents in the future as much as possible. It was too disgusting!

Gentle Fist was better. It didn't draw blood when striking, directly crushing the enemy's internal organs! It was clean, efficient, and consumed less chakra than "Chidori." The Rasengan also seemed pretty good; he could develop it further later.

Thus, "Chidori" and "Raikiri"-like techniques were relegated to the cold palace, leaving Sasuke to develop them himself.

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