Sound-Damping Technique

When ninjas moved quickly, they gave ordinary people the impression that they had teleported.

This method of moving quickly was called the Body Flicker Technique.

It was really just running fast—ordinary people's eyes couldn't keep up.

At a certain level, even a ninja's eyes couldn't keep up with the Body Flicker Technique.

Of course, it was no match for a dōjutsu kekkei genkai.

But what could you expect when Neji was so full of himself?

He had a pair of Byakugan that big, and he wouldn't even activate them.

Though even without activating the Byakugan, his ordinary vision was better than a normal person's.

But his opponent was Kimura Takuya.

Over the years, besides developing a whole bunch of dumpling-based ninjutsu,

he had also developed various chakra applications and support techniques.

What he was using now was one such little trick, which could be combined with the Body Flicker Technique.

Kimura Takuya called it the Sound-Damping Technique.

Calling it a technique was a bit of a stretch. It wasn't really ninjutsu. Like Water Walking, it was just a little trick.

Basically, he controlled chakra across the surface of his body and clothes, forming a thin film of chakra with a special structure.

The film could vibrate at incredible speed, pushing the air aside on its own.

Used together with the Body Flicker Technique, it greatly reduced air resistance while moving at high speed, allowing him to move much faster without making much of a sonic boom.

This trick was a little like Naruto's Nine-Tails Chakra Mode.

In Nine-Tails Chakra Mode, the Nine-Tails' chakra and Naruto's own chakra completely enveloped his body, forming a golden coat over his skin.

It greatly increased Naruto's speed, even letting him rival the Fourth Raikage, A, in that regard.

It also came with other abilities: increased strength, greatly enhanced sensory perception, the ability to distinguish good from evil, and the ability to form chakra arms.

You could say the Sound-Damping Technique was a knockoff version of Nine-Tails Chakra Mode.

It didn't have nearly as many or as powerful abilities as the original. It only greatly increased the speed of the Body Flicker Technique and reduced the noise of breaking the sound barrier.

But even that was already astonishing.

A faint layer of chakra clung to Kimura Takuya's body, so subtle that it showed no sign of anything unusual.

All they could see was Kimura Takuya mysteriously appearing behind Neji again and again, without making a sound.

The Ino-Shika-Cho trio was shocked, too.

"Did he use ninjutsu? That was ninjutsu, right? He's so fast. Is he gonna come steal my chips?"

"Idiot! Why would Takuya do something like that? Takuya's only using one-tenth of his strength."

Thump!

"Ah, that hurt!"

Ino punched Choji angrily. The chubby boy crouched down, clutching his head with one hand while still pouring chips into his mouth with the other.

"Didn't you notice? Takuya-senpai isn't just incredibly fast—he doesn't make a sound when he moves. There's no sound from his feet hitting the ground, or even from him cutting through the air at high speed. If we weren't standing outside the arena and able to see him, I'd think there wasn't anyone else in there."

Shikamaru ignored Ino and Choji horsing around beside him and watched the match, analyzing the situation.

"He's going to activate his Byakugan."

Sure enough, Neji abandoned his pride for the first time and finally couldn't help activating his Byakugan.

"Byakugan, activate!"

Neji's eyes widened, the veins at their corners bulging.

Then he froze in place.

So he really was behind me?

In his Byakugan's field of vision, a human-shaped mass of chakra stood still behind him.

Even though he was so close that Neji could strike him with a raised hand, he showed no sign of moving.

"Oh, you found me. Is hide-and-seek over already?"

Kimura Takuya cried out in exaggerated dismay, as if he were a little kid playing hide-and-seek who'd been caught first by the seeker.

An opening!

The moment Kimura Takuya spoke, Neji seized his chance, spun around, and struck with the Gentle Fist, aiming for his pressure points.

In the blink of an eye, he struck seven times with both hands!

Too bad.

Every strike hit empty air.

There was no one behind him when he turned. Clearly, the person who'd been behind him was still behind him!

"Looks like it's not over yet. Ahahaha! You can't hit me. Hey, you can't hit me."

Next came a certain prodigy spinning around in a furious frenzy.

And a certain obnoxious civilian ninja playing hide-and-seek.

Neji finally couldn't take it anymore.

Panting heavily, he stared at Kimura Takuya behind him through his Byakugan and abandoned his pride for the second time.

"Eight Trigrams Palms: Rotation!"

Rotation was a ninjutsu-taijutsu hybrid. Although it was classified as taijutsu, it was also considered ninjutsu.

Neji hadn't wanted to use it. Had he even imagined he'd end up using Rotation?

Pfft!

"Damn, you're good. I dodged for so long, and you still managed to hit me."

Kimura Takuya spat out a mouthful of blood and collapsed, as if he'd been struck.

"Takuya, are you okay?"

Ino crossed the exam arena's safety line and rushed over, gathering Takuya into her arms.

The proctor checked Takuya's injuries, confirmed he was fine, and announced the result.

"Hyuga Neji wins!"

Looking at Kimura Takuya lying motionless on the ground, Neji looked as if he were questioning his whole life.

What happened?

It hadn't felt like he'd touched him at all. Why had he spat up blood?

Could chakra have hurt him?

Just as Neji was puzzling over it, Kimura Takuya, who had been "unconscious," suddenly woke up.

Lying in Ino's arms, he slowly reached out his right hand toward Neji, holding his index and middle fingers together.

Neji walked over and joined his own index and middle fingers with Takuya's, forming the Seal of Reconciliation.

"You're—you're really amazing. Is this what being a genius is like? I thought the gap between us wasn't that big. All I could do was dodge. I'm no match for you in close combat."

Neji didn't say much. It wasn't as if he could admit that when he'd been tailed just now, he'd actually been panicking like crazy.

"I lost our bet. You can ask me for anything."

"What was that taijutsu just now?"

"Oh, just a tiny little trick. If you want to learn it, I can teach you."

Neji nodded, then felt a little embarrassed and held out his hand again.

"I'm Hyuga Neji."

"I'm Kimura Takuya."

The two formally introduced themselves again. Maybe this was how a friendship began?

Not far away, Guy and Lee were moved to tears.

"This is youth!"

A civilian ninja had invented a Body Flicker trick and challenged the Hyuga prodigy.

He'd lost in the end, but he'd still earned the prodigy's respect.

It really was a good script. Pretty touching.

If only he'd been a little more discreet about squirting ketchup into his mouth, I might've been moved, too.

Shikamaru stared at the guy lying in Ino's arms with his dead-fish eyes, utterly speechless.

I really don't get it. What's this guy even trying to do?

And how did he manage that trick of tailing someone? Did it count as ninjutsu or taijutsu?

Shikamaru was completely baffled. But even if he couldn't figure it out, someone else could.

The Third Hokage and Guy both said they understood.

"Nice Body Flicker trick. He must be using fine chakra control to keep chakra around the surface of his body and push the air aside, reducing resistance as he moves at high speed. That lets him go faster and make less noise."

"Right. Too bad he doesn't have enough chakra. He must've run out of chakra and collapsed from exhaustion, then been defeated by Neji's Rotation."

They both agreed that Takuya had a talent for developing ninjutsu and good chakra control.

Unfortunately, he had less chakra than an average person, so becoming a medical ninja really was the best choice for him.

Kimura Takuya thought to himself, That's exactly the effect I wanted.

Also, lying in someone else's arms was pretty comfortable.

But you couldn't be too shameless. A little while was fine, but you couldn't rub against her. Well, a little rubbing was fine, but you couldn't keep doing it over and over.

"Takuya, are you feeling awful? I'll take you to the hospital."

The kindhearted girl looked worried, thinking that the boy in her arms was writhing in pain. She even wanted to take him to the hospital.

Tch, pervert.

Shikamaru spat on the ground and cursed under his breath.