"Trust Your Feelings"

On the field, Qingyu took a deep breath, Shisui's words echoing in his mind:

"Trust your feelings."

He closed his eyes, then snapped them open!

He wasn't looking at Neji's position, but at where Neji "might" be.

He flung six shuriken in two groups, each at a completely different angle, speed, and spin!

The first group of three shot straight ahead, targeting Neji's upper, middle, and lower body.

The second group of three traced strange arcs, aiming for the spaces on Neji's left and right where he could dodge.

"Child's play." Neji said coldly. His Byakugan had already seen through every trajectory.

He turned his body slightly, preparing to dodge with the smallest movement possible,

but at that moment, Qingyu formed Hand Seals again:

"Water Style: Hidden Mist Technique!"

It wasn't an attack. It was support!

A large amount of water vapor poured from his hands, instantly forming a dense fog between the two of them. It only covered a small area, about ten meters across, but that was enough to briefly interfere with vision. Even the Byakugan would be affected a little inside the fog.

Probably...

Neji finally furrowed his brow.

He hadn't expected Qingyu to use Water Release, much less use it in such a... underhanded way.

The first group of three shuriken had already cut through the fog. Neji easily dodged them by turning aside.

But the second group of three arcing shuriken arrived half a second later because of the fog and their bizarre trajectories.

And that half-second was Neji's opening!

There was a gap!

"Rotation!"

Without hesitation, Neji spun in place. Chakra surged from the tenketsu all over his body, forming a perfect spherical barrier.

Clang, clang, clang!

All three arcing shuriken were deflected.

The swirling air from Rotation also dispersed the fog.

Seven seconds later, Rotation stopped.

Neji stood where he was, breathing slightly harder. Rotation really did take a toll.

As for Qingyu...

He had already retreated thirty meters away. He was panting, but his eyes shone with an almost frightening intensity.

It worked! I forced him to use Rotation once! Even if it only cost him a tenth of his chakra... I did it!

An uproar broke out in the stands.

"That kid... actually made Neji use Rotation?"

"That was clever. He used the Hidden Mist Technique to interfere with Neji's vision, then used shuriken to force him to move..."

"But he must've used up a lot of chakra himself, right? First Fire Release, then Water Release..."

In the VIP seats, the corner of Fugaku Uchiha's mouth lifted slightly.

Hyuga Hiashi remained expressionless, but his fingers tapped lightly against the armrest.

"Shisui taught him well," Fugaku said softly.

"He only relied on tricks," Hiashi replied flatly. "Neji hasn't gotten serious yet."

On the field, Neji looked at Qingyu, thirty meters away, and spoke a complete sentence for the first time:

"You're more troublesome than I expected."

Qingyu grinned. "Thanks for the compliment, though it doesn't sound much like one."

"But this ends now." Neji raised both hands in front of him, taking up a completely new stance.

"I'll finish this fight in the next thirty seconds."

Thirty seconds? That's oddly precise.

Do you come with a timer, old man?

Qingyu grumbled inwardly, but every muscle in his body was already tensed.

He knew Neji was about to get serious.

"Gentle Fist Art: Eight Trigrams Sixty-Four Palms!"

Neji's figure vanished.

No, he hadn't vanished. He was simply so fast that he left afterimages in the eyes of ordinary people!

Qingyu's pupils contracted. In his mind, Izuna and Tobirama shouted at the same time:

"Left rear!"

"No! It's a feint! The real attack is from the front right!"

The two of them disagreed again!

Grinding his teeth, Qingyu chose to trust his own "feelings."

He didn't dodge left or right. Instead, he bent backward, his entire body almost flat against the ground!

Whoosh!

Neji's palm swept past his cheek, like several Kunai slicing through the air.

Qingyu's skin burned painfully. Chakra surged wildly through his meridians, and every roll felt like a gamble with his life.

That was close! I almost got struck at my tenketsu!

But Neji's attacks didn't stop.

His first strike missed, and he smoothly changed techniques, his palms raining down like a storm:

"Two palms! Four palms! Eight palms! Sixteen palms!"

Qingyu rolled frantically across the ground, darting and dodging every way he could.

Each palm skimmed past his body. Every time, he escaped by a hair's breadth.

The spectators in the stands were stunned.

"My god... how is he dodging all of them?"

"That Uchiha kid's instincts are insanely good!"

"No, it's not just instinct... Look at his eyes!"

Someone noticed a faint red gleam flickering in Qingyu's eyes from time to time. It wasn't the Sharingan, but something was clearly at work.

Combat Intuition (Beginner) was running at full power!

Qingyu felt himself enter a strange state.

Everything around him seemed to slow down.

Neji's palm movements, the fluctuations in the flow of chakra, even the drifting dust in the air—all of it became clear to him.

But the price was his brain burning furiously and his chakra rapidly running low.

I can't keep this up... I've got ten seconds at most before I collapse from exhaustion.

"Kid! Use a blade!" Izuna suddenly shouted. "I'll teach you a simple thrust! Combine it with a burst of chakra, and you can force him back!"

"Too risky!" Tobirama objected. "Use the Steam-Kill Shuriken instead! Create an explosion and steam to interfere with his Byakugan!"

Izuna was excited. "Right! Blow him up! Show him the Uchiha's fine control!"

Tobirama remained calm. "Don't act rashly. Watch your chakra reserves. Detonating three at once will use up forty percent of your—"

Qingyu rolled out of the way of Neji's "Thirty-Two Palms," his mind calculating at top speed:

Izuna's plan meant close-quarters combat. High risk, high reward. If it worked, he might turn the fight around outright, but if it failed, Neji would strike his tenketsu and take him down in an instant.

Tobirama's plan relied on ranged attacks. It was relatively safe, but might not break the deadlock, and the Steam-Kill Shuriken's chances of hitting...

"I've decided!"

After dodging another palm strike, Qingyu reached into his ninja pouch with both hands.

His left hand pulled out three ordinary shuriken.

His right hand pulled out three specially made Steam-Kill Shuriken, their surfaces covered in fine patterns.

"Hm?" Neji's Byakugan immediately saw the difference between them. "Their chakra is attached differently... It's a trap."

He immediately retreated, putting distance between them.

But Qingyu had already thrown!

"Uchiha Style: Triple Swallow Return!"

The three ordinary shuriken flew out in a triangular formation, blocking Neji's upper, left, and right sides.

Neji was about to dodge sideways when he noticed Qingyu's right hand moving too.

"Steam-Kill Shuriken: Scattering Flowers!"

He threw not one, but all three at once!

And the throwing technique was bizarre. The three shuriken collided with each other midair, bounced, and changed direction, their trajectories completely unpredictable!

It was a combination of Shisui's Heart-Intent Style and Qingyu's own experiments with Steam-Kill techniques!

Neji's Byakugan worked furiously, trying to calculate every trajectory, but...

There were too many! Too many changes of direction! And the chakra fluctuations of each shuriken were constantly changing!

"Rotation!"

He could only activate his Absolute Defense again.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

All three Steam-Kill Shuriken struck the Rotation barrier almost simultaneously and exploded violently!

High-temperature steam instantly engulfed the area around Neji. Everything disappeared into a blank wall of white.

The audience erupted.

"Did they hit?!"

"No, Rotation blocked them!"

"But Neji's used Rotation twice in a row..."