Should Have Called It the Buddha's Fury Fire Lotus...

The steam slowly dissipated.

The Rotation barrier had already vanished.

Neji stood where he was, his white robes dusted with grime, his breathing noticeably ragged, sweat beading on his forehead.

Two consecutive Rotations, combined with the high-speed pursuit from earlier, had drained over thirty percent of his chakra.

And Qingyu...

He knelt on one knee twenty meters away, hands braced against the ground, gasping for air; his own chakra was nearing rock bottom.

The two stared at each other through the thin, lingering mist of steam.

"You..." Neji began, his voice raspy.

"Are strong."

"You too." Qingyu forced an ugly smile.

"But I can still fight."

"Is that so?" Neji resumed his starting stance.

"Then let's end this with one final move."

His hands slowly traced a circular path in front of him, chakra condensing in his palms and emitting a pale blue glow.

In the stands, Hyuga Hiashi sat bolt upright: "This is..."

"Gentle Fist Art: Eight Trigrams Sixty-Four Palms..." Fugaku narrowed his eyes.

"Neji has already trained to this level?"

On the field, Neji's aura climbed steadily.

Qingyu felt a suffocating pressure.

Sixty-Four Palms?! If I take all of those, won't I end up like a sieve?!

"Kid, give up!" Izuna suddenly said.

"You cannot take that move."

"No," Tobirama countered.

"There is still a chance. Use all your remaining chakra to create a massive, wide-range explosion of combined fire and water.

Don't aim to injure; aim to create chaos, then... use taijutsu to strike his blind spot from behind."

"The Byakugan has a blind spot?" Qingyu was stunned.

"It does! This Hyuga is clearly from the branch family; the branch family's Byakugan has a flaw!" Tobirama said quickly.

"Although the Byakugan is touted as having a 360-degree field of vision, there is a tiny, sensory weak point located right behind the neck, near the cervical spine, caused by the Caged Bird. It's about five centimeters in diameter. Most people don't know about it, but back in my day... I studied it."

Qingyu: "..."

Master Tobirama, just how many of the Uchiha's rivals have you studied?!

Tobirama: That is not the case. I pay attention to anyone who might pose a threat to the village; it's just that the Uchiha have a higher priority...

Qingyu: High enough to be like, "Why is there no paper in the toilet! Damn Uchiha!" is that it?!

Tobirama: ...Mind your own business!

"You only have one chance," Tobirama said.

"And the risk is extremely high. If you fail, you will take the Sixty-Four Palms head-on. You won't die, but you'll be crippled."

Qingyu looked at Neji, who was already poised to strike, then looked down at his own trembling hands.

Many images flashed through his mind.

Shisui's smile, Itachi's instructions, Fugaku's expectations, the system missions, and... since coming to this world...

The days and nights spent being forced to train by two old fossils.

"..." He cursed under his breath.

Then, he straightened his body and began to weave hand seals.

It wasn't Fire Style, nor was it Water Style.

He was weaving two seals simultaneously: Fire Style with his left hand, Water Style with his right!

"What is he doing?!" In the stands, Kakashi widened his only eye.

"Using two natures at once? And they're opposing elements? Has he lost his mind?!"

On the field, Qingyu's chakra surged wildly.

In his left palm, crimson flames condensed into a sphere.

In his right palm, azure water swirled into a ring.

Then, the two slowly drew together, colliding and merging in front of his chest to form an incredibly unstable, constantly twisting and deforming dual-colored energy sphere!

"Water-Fire Release: Great Rotation!"

Qingyu used his final ounce of strength to shove the massive energy sphere, over a meter in diameter, forward!

I should have called it Buddha's Fury Fire Lotus...

Just to buff myself...

It wasn't aimed at Neji, but at the ground between the two of them!

Neji's Byakugan had already pierced through the terrifying nature of this move.

Once this technique hit the ground, it would trigger a massive Steam Explosion covering half the arena, with enough power to send both of them flying!

Without a moment's hesitation, he unleashed his prepared sixty-four palms early!

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

Countless palm shadows slammed toward Qingyu like a violent storm!

And Qingyu...

After pushing out the energy sphere, his body didn't retreat; instead, he lunged forward!

In an incredibly disheveled, near-crawling posture, he hugged the ground and slipped through the gaps in Neji's palm shadows!

His target: directly behind Neji!

"What?!" Neji was shocked, but the sixty-four palms were already in motion and could not be redirected instantly.

Qingyu's hand was already pressed against Neji's back, three inches below the cervical spine.

"Gentle Fist: Two-Finger Thrust!"

He used the simplest taijutsu technique taught at the Ninja Academy.

Two fingers, concentrated with his final trace of chakra, precisely struck that "sensory blind spot."

Puff.

A very soft sound.

Neji's body stiffened abruptly.

The palm shadows of the sixty-four palms vanished instantly.

He slowly lowered his head to look at his chest, where the flow of his chakra had suffered a momentary disruption.

Though it lasted only 0.5 seconds, it... was enough.

BOOM!!!

The Great Rotation energy sphere Qingyu had pushed out earlier finally hit the ground.

The explosion's shockwave surged like a towering tidal wave.

Qingyu felt the heat wave hit his face, and the steam swallowed everything like a deluge.

The spectator stands were deathly silent.

A few seconds later, the white mist slowly dissipated.

In the center of the arena, two figures gradually became clear.

Qingyu slumped on the ground, soaked as if he had just been fished out of the water.

At this moment, his chakra was completely exhausted; he didn't even have the strength to stand up.

Three steps in front of him, Neji knelt on one knee, one hand supporting himself on the ground while the other clutched his chest, his face appearing somewhat pale.

The two stared at each other.

After a long while, Neji spoke slowly, his voice very soft:

"...I lost."

Qingyu was stunned.

The referee was stunned.

The entire audience was stunned.

"Neji... admits defeat?" the referee asked uncertainly.

"Yes." Neji nodded and slowly stood up.

"My chakra meridians were disrupted by that strike just now, causing a brief disorder.

Although I could recover quickly, in a real life-or-death battle, that 0.5-second opening would have been enough for me to die three times over."

He looked at Qingyu, his eyes complex: "You seem to know the weakness of the Byakugan. Although it was just a temporary trick... you won."

Qingyu opened his mouth, wanting to say something, but ultimately just gave a wry smile: "I... I can't move either."

One of them was standing but unable to fight, the other was sitting but unable to rise.

But according to the rules, Neji had voluntarily conceded.

The referee took a deep breath and raised his hand:

"The winner is Konoha's Uchiha Qingyu!"

Dead silence.

Then, WHOOSH!!!

A mountain-shaking roar of cheers, applause, and gasps erupted throughout the entire arena!

Qingyu collapsed onto the ground, staring at the ribbons and confetti fluttering through the air, his mind completely blank.

I won? I actually defeated Neji Hyuga? That genius Neji?

[Ding!]

[Limited-time mission: The Fall of a Genius? The Three-Year Promise! Completed!]

[Completion Assessment: A]

[Mission Reward: Unlocked "Byakugan Insight (Weakened Version)," slightly increasing dynamic vision and chakra flow perception. Current effects: Dynamic vision +15%, chakra flow perception range +5 meters.]

[Bonus Reward: Due to defeating a Hyuga genius in a public setting, your reputation within the Uchiha clan has significantly increased. You have obtained the title "Rising Star of the Clan."]