Qingyu froze for a moment, then nodded firmly. "I understand."
So it's all about belief, huh? I get it. Friendship! Love! Bonds!
Sharingan! Open up!!!
He turned and headed toward the entrance tunnel.
Behind him, Shisui said softly, "Good luck."
Itachi said nothing, only giving a slight nod.
Qingyu entered the tunnel, and the light dimmed.
At the far end of the tunnel was a bright exit. He could hear the crowd roaring like a tidal wave.
In his mind, Izuna suddenly laughed. "Kid, are you scared?"
"Scared," Qingyu honestly admitted.
"Good. You should be," Izuna said.
"But when an Uchiha is scared, it's not the kind of fear that makes you run away. It's the kind that makes you tremble with excitement. I was scared out of my mind before every battle, but the moment I had my sword in hand, I wasn't afraid of anything."
When Kobe was eight years old and touched his first basketball, he said, "I'm going to play basketball for the rest of my life..."
"Physiologically, fear and excitement produce similar responses: both cause adrenaline to be released.
"The difference lies in how you interpret it. You can choose to define what you're feeling right now as 'pre-battle excitement,'" Tobirama added calmly.
As a transmigrator, how could he possibly be excited?!
Qingyu smiled wryly. "Teachers, this motivational speech of yours... is surprisingly complementary."
He reached the end of the tunnel and stopped.
Outside, the referee's voice came through the Amplification Technique:
"The third match is about to begin! Both contestants, enter the arena!"
"Konoha's Neji Hyuga!"
The crowd erupted in cheers.
"Konoha's Uchiha Qingyu!"
The cheers were a little quieter, but still substantial.
After all, he was an Uchiha. He was handsome enough to meet the average reader's standards, so of course there'd be people cheering for him!
Qingyu took a deep breath and stepped out of the tunnel.
The sunlight was blinding, the roar deafening, and tens of thousands of eyes were fixed on him.
Across the arena, Neji Hyuga was already standing there in white, his gaze calm as still water.
Qingyu walked to his position and stopped.
The two of them stood fifty meters apart.
The referee stood on a raised platform at the edge of the arena and raised his hand.
"Match rules: unrestricted combat. Any ninjutsu, taijutsu, or ninja tools are permitted, but deliberately lethal attacks are forbidden.
"A contestant loses if they surrender, remain down for ten seconds, or lose consciousness."
"Both contestants, get ready."
Neji assumed the opening stance of Gentle Fist and activated his Byakugan, veins bulging at his temples.
Qingyu took three specially made shuriken from his ninja pouch and began forming Hand Seals with his other hand.
"Begin!"
Let's make you happy—make everyone happy!
The instant the referee said "Begin," Neji moved.
He shot forward like a white bolt of lightning!
No, "moved" didn't begin to describe it!
He had practically teleported!
Qingyu's pupils contracted.
Here he comes.
Damn it, could I still surrender?!
Neji covered the fifty meters between them in just a second and a half, closing to within twenty meters.
With his Byakugan activated, his whole presence had changed.
His white eyes held no emotion, only absolute calm and... an oppressive sense that he could see through everything.
[Holy crap! What kind of speed is that?! It takes me over seven seconds to run fifty meters in school fitness tests!]
Qingyu's internal commentary was impossible to stop, but his body had already reacted. As he retreated sharply, he flung the three shuriken from his left hand!
Not in straight lines, but in arcs!
The three shuriken traced three tricky curves through the air, sealing off Neji's path forward.
"It's useless," Neji said, his voice terrifyingly calm.
He didn't even slow down. His hands swept swiftly in front of him.
Smack! Smack! Smack!
With three crisp sounds, he slapped all three shuriken away.
He didn't block them. He precisely struck the shuriken at their weak points along the edges, changing their trajectories with minimal force.
[He slapped shuriken away with his bare hands?! Are the Hyuga Clan's hands made of titanium?!]
"Gentle Fist: Eight Trigrams Vacuum Palm!"
At the very same moment he knocked the shuriken away, Neji thrust his right palm forward.
Whoosh.
An invisible wave of chakra tore through the air and shot straight at Qingyu's face!
"Dodge!" Izuna and Tobirama shouted at the same time in his mind.
Relying almost entirely on the instincts he'd developed from being beaten up over the last few days, Qingyu threw himself into an awkward roll to the front right.
Boom!
The ground where he'd been standing exploded, leaving a shallow crater the size of a bowl.
[I thought the Hyuga Branch Family only fought at close range?! This isn't how the script was supposed to go!]
Before Qingyu could even get back to his feet, Neji was already within ten meters.
The all-around vision of the Byakugan left Qingyu's every tiny adjustment in movement exposed.
"Gentle Fist: Two Palms!"
Neji's hands darted out like butterflies flitting among flowers, aiming for two chakra points in Qingyu's chest.
"Water-Fire Style: Rotation Barrier!"
Qingyu didn't have time to finish the Hand Seals. He all but shouted as he unleashed his chakra.
Whoosh!
A translucent sphere of blue and red hastily unfolded, barely forming an arcing shield in front of him.
Thud!
Neji's palms struck the barrier. It shuddered violently, and a spiderweb of cracks spread across its surface, but it didn't break.
Neji raised an eyebrow. "Oh?"
He clearly hadn't expected Qingyu to react so quickly, or his defensive ninjutsu to take shape far faster than a typical Genin's.
[Blocked it! That was close... Wait, is he smiling?]
Qingyu clearly saw the faintest hint of a smile tug at the corner of Neji's mouth. It was almost... excited.
"Interesting," Neji said softly. Then he suddenly increased the force behind both palms!
"Gentle Fist: Four Palms!"
Thud! Thud! Thud! Thud!
Four consecutive strikes slammed into the same spot almost simultaneously!
Crack!
The barrier shattered completely, dissolving into specks of chakra light.
The force of the rebound sent Qingyu sliding five or six meters backward. His chest felt tight, and his throat tasted sweet with blood.
[Four consecutive strikes?! How fast are his hands?! How many years of being single did it take to train them?!]
"Don't get distracted!" Izuna roared in his mind.
"He's testing you! Use my footwork to put some distance between you!"
"No!" Tobirama countered.
"If you retreat now, he'll predict your trajectory! You should use the Substitution Technique to fool him, then counterattack with Water Release!"
The two of them started arguing again.
Qingyu's head began to spin, but his body had already made its own decision.
He didn't use Uchiha Style footwork or the Substitution Technique. Instead, he did something no one had expected.
He charged forward!
Not at Neji, but toward his left side, where three shuriken he'd slapped away were stuck in the ground.
"Trying to retrieve your ninja tools?" Neji saw through his intent at once and flashed into his path.
But when Qingyu was five meters away, he suddenly changed direction and formed Hand Seals with his right hand.
"Fire Style: Great Fireball Technique!"
A modified, basic version of the technique spat out a fireball the size of a basketball, heading straight for Neji's face.
Neji didn't even blink his Byakugan. He swung his right hand. "Eight Trigrams Vacuum Palm."
The invisible force of his palm dispersed the fireball in midair, sending sparks flying.
Taking advantage of the brief visual interference, Qingyu had already reached the three shuriken. He flicked them up with his toe and caught all three in midair.
At the same time, he took another three from his ninja pouch with his left hand.
Now he held three shuriken in each hand.
"Is he going to throw all six at once?" Ino asked in surprise from the stands. "Can he control them all?"
"No," Shikamaru said, narrowing his eyes.
"He might... not even be trying to control them."
Before you continue