Oh, Is It My Turn?

"Stubborn fool." Neji snorted, taking up his stance as well.

The battle began.

Neji's attacks were just like his personality: precise, ruthless, and efficient. His Eight Trigrams Palms flowed seamlessly, every strike aimed directly at the chakra points on Hinata's body.

Though Hinata fought with all her might, defending herself with the Gentle Fist, the gap between her and Neji—hailed as the "greatest genius in the Hyuga"—was simply too vast in both talent and combat experience.

After only a few exchanges, Neji struck a vital point in her chest with his palm. Hinata spat out a mouthful of blood and was sent flying.

"It's over." Neji looked down at Hinata. "This is the difference between you and me, the difference between the Main Family and the Branch Family—the difference in our fates, which cannot be changed!"

He walked toward Hinata one step at a time, apparently preparing to deliver the final blow.

"Stop!" Naruto could no longer stand watching and roared.

But Neji ignored him.

However, just as Neji's palm was about to fall on Hinata, an icy gaze—so cold it seemed capable of freezing the soul—settled on him.

Neji stiffened and instinctively stopped. Following that gaze, he looked toward Ling Xuan in the crowd.

Ling Xuan's face remained expressionless, but his dark eyes filled Neji with a pressure he had never felt before. It wasn't killing intent. It was something more profound, a pure "indifference," as if he were looking at an ant.

It was as though, if Neji dared move again, he would be erased completely the next instant.

The chief examiner, Gekko Hayate, intervened in time and stopped Neji.

"That's enough! The winner is Neji Hyuga!"

Hinata had lost, but she didn't cry. With the help of a medical ninja, she struggled to her feet and bowed in Ling Xuan's direction from afar.

Ling Xuan nodded to her.

Her strength was still weak, but she had already planted the resolve to face powerful opponents head-on. Hinata was a seed worth investing in.

The next match was Rock Lee against Gaara: the most primal clash between the pinnacle of Taijutsu and absolute defense.

After removing his weights, Lee displayed a speed that shocked the entire arena. He became a green bolt of lightning, relentlessly attacking Gaara with a storm of Taijutsu.

Yet Gaara didn't even move. The sand in his gourd automatically formed one unbreakable barrier after another, blocking every one of Lee's attacks.

In the end, with the Eight Inner Gates opened up to the fifth, the Gate of Limit, Lee used the Hidden Lotus and briefly shattered Gaara's Armor of Sand. But his body had reached its limit.

Gaara mercilessly crushed Lee's left hand and left foot with his Sand Waterfall Funeral.

If Guy hadn't intervened in time, Lee might have died on the spot.

It was a brutal battle, and everyone saw just how irrationally powerful and cruel Gaara of Sunagakure was.

Lee's defeat filled both Naruto and Sasuke with anger and frustration.

Only Ling Xuan's eyes gleamed with unusual light when Lee opened the fifth gate.

The Eight Inner Gates forcibly removed the body's restrictions on chakra at the cost of its vitality, unleashing several times or even dozens of times its usual power. It was indeed a fascinating subject for studying the laws of life.

After one fierce match after another, the names finally appeared on the electronic display, making everyone in Team 7 tense up.

Ling Xuan VS Temari

"Oh? Is it my turn?" Ling Xuan calmly walked down into the arena.

"It's that guy!" Naruto shouted excitedly. "Show her how strong we are in Konoha!"

"Hmph." Sasuke's gaze was also fixed firmly on Ling Xuan. He wanted to see what kind of strength this teammate, who had always kept it hidden, would reveal in a real one-on-one fight.

"His opponent is a kunoichi from Sunagakure?" Kakashi's expression grew focused. "Temari is no pushover. With her Three-Star Fan and Wind Style, she can unleash tremendous power. Ling Xuan... how will you handle this?"

In the arena, Temari rested her enormous iron fan on her shoulder and looked at the black-haired boy before her. He stood a head taller than her and looked refined and polite. A confident smile crossed her face.

"Hey, Leaf brat, I suggest you surrender now. I'm not as easy to deal with as Kankuro. My wind will tear you to shreds."

Ling Xuan didn't answer. He simply watched her and the enormous fan behind her.

In his field of vision, both Temari and her fan had already been completely "turned into data."

Temari: Wind Release ninja.

Weapon: Three-Star Fan.

By swinging the fan, she could produce Wind Release attacks of varying strength. The three stars on the fan represented three levels of wind power. Her attacks had a wide range and great force, but her movements before attacking were obvious, and her attack patterns were relatively simple, making them easy to predict.

"Begin!"

At the chief examiner's signal, Temari opened her enormous iron fan without hesitation.

"Let me show you the difference between us!"

She swung it with all her might!

"Wind Release: Sickle Weasel!"

A howling gale rushed toward them. The Kamaitachi Technique unleashed by Temari's Three-Star Fan was like a raging beast, spreading invisible claws to tear everything before it to shreds.

The Genin in the stands all paled at the attack's power. Even Sasuke, for all his pride, knew he would struggle to block it head-on without using the Cursed Seal's power.

Yet at the storm's center, Ling Xuan made a move no one could understand.

He didn't dodge or defend. He didn't even make Hand Seals.

He simply raised his right hand slowly, fingers spread, palm facing the gale that could destroy anything.

"What's he doing?" Naruto cried. "Dodge, Ling Xuan!"

"Is he crazy?" Kankuro frowned. "He thinks he can take Temari's wind with his bare body? He'll be sliced to pieces in an instant!"

"No... something's wrong." Kakashi's gaze suddenly sharpened. His Sharingan clearly saw an extremely concentrated, stable stream of chakra slowly welling up from Ling Xuan's palm.

Its form was strange. It wasn't made up of just one nature; instead, it seemed to be composed of countless different kinds of energy, intricately intertwined in a spiraling pattern, in proportions so precise they were nearly perfect.

It gave off no dangerous aura. On the contrary, it seemed like an absolutely stable point.

Just then, the raging wind of the Sickle Weasel crashed into Ling Xuan's seemingly fragile palm!

The scene they had expected—blood and flesh flying—never happened. Instead, a bizarre sight plunged the entire arena into dead silence.

The gale, powerful enough to destroy a steel plate, struck the chakra in Ling Xuan's palm and stopped as if it had hit an insurmountable invisible wall.