Moonlit Night! Lone Action

Neji was startled. This is...!!

"I can tell you are also someone with a tragic childhood, but..."

As Gaara spoke, his mouth split open wide, and half of his face transformed into a monstrous appearance.

His right eye, in particular, shriveled up, looking truly chilling.

The killing intent contained within that gaze was not only pure but incredibly intense and heavy!

It was even more bone-chilling than the look in Orochimaru's eyes!

"Come!"

Like the sound of a blade edge dancing in a gale, Neji's footsteps fell upon the rooftop without even vibrating the tiles.

Under the moonlight, the two clashed!

With a single palm, he struck Gaara's back lightly; the sand, acting like a living thing, moved with lightning speed.

This time, it was not a massive area-of-effect attack, but a highly precise, targeted strike.

The sand was no longer scattered; it condensed into a mass, as if it were Gaara's own limbs, obeying his every command!

His Byakugan had been activated early, clearly perceiving every danger.

After three moves, Neji retreated.

"Your speed is fast. Can even Mode One not keep up with you?"

Gaara widened his eyes, his desire for battle growing ever stronger.

It wasn't just him; the message conveyed by that right eye seemed to be an incredibly intense craving for combat and blood!

"I can feel it—the monster inside you!"

Neji took a deep breath. How could his own heart not crave battle as well?

It wasn't just a craving; he wanted to become stronger through such a fight! That sentiment was just as pure!

"Sand Shield..."

Gaara began to weave hand signs. It was as if he had searched for a thousand years, finally finding an opponent with whom he could spar to his heart's content!

"Sand Shuriken!"

"Szzzzzz!"

The shuriken condensed from sand spun rapidly, flying toward Neji.

He retreated, his movement technique swift.

But the sand shuriken didn't have much lethality to begin with; the moment they flew behind Neji, they immediately exploded.

The pulverized sand began to cling to Neji's body, yet Neji, dressed in his Anbu uniform, was not so easily caught.

Like a loach, he quickly slipped away.

"Whoosh!"

With intense chakra clinging to the soles of his feet, Neji hung from the eaves, dodging all the Sand Shuriken.

Gaara took a step forward and chuckled, "Oh? Just how many more abilities does that pair of eyes have?"

As Gaara moved, the maximum range of his sand control increased.

Gaara walked forward, and Neji immediately dodged the pursuit of the sand, retreating backward.

After a few steps, back and forth, Neji landed on the empty street.

If we keep fighting up there, it will be disastrous if this guy truly undergoes a Tailed Beast transformation. I need to find an opportunity to get close and do what must be done...

Neji muttered to himself, but Gaara had already appeared silently behind him.

"Caught you!"

Rustle, rustle, rustle!

The heavy sand instantly pinned Neji's feet to the ground.

"I can target chakra, too!"

Gaara widened his two mismatched eyes; even his voice now seemed to carry a sharp, terrifying undertone.

"You have no way to escape now."

Neji tried to take a step, only to find his feet firmly held down by the sand, and his body beginning to be coiled by it as well.

"Come on, let me see what other tricks you have yet to use?" Gaara tilted his head, his entire temperament having turned bloodthirsty and bizarre.

"I will defeat you completely, but not yet."

Neji gritted his teeth, feeling a sense of urgency, and clenched his fists.

"Refining chakra..."

He calmed his spirit and began to circulate his chakra throughout his meridians, then forced it to break through his acupoints...

A single strike probably won't work; this level of suppression...

Neji unclenched his tightened fists, and a dense surge of chakra erupted from within his body. Neji's chakra reserves were now two to three times that of an ordinary person, and this chakra was also imbued with the nature of wind.

"How is this possible? I clearly suppressed all of your chakra!"

The look of shock on Gaara's face made Neji want to laugh.

How could he possibly know that the Rotation he used was infused with nature transformation, and the wind-attribute chakra was provided by the system? There was no way he could suppress that!

"Wind Style: Rotation!"

A massive, swirling storm completely engulfed Gaara.

The Shield of Sand moved to defend him automatically, and the Armor of Sand protected Gaara tightly; even the cyclone-like force of the Rotation could not shake it in the slightest.

It was a contest between Absolute Defense and Absolute Defense!

"Truly worthy of being called the Absolute Defense of the Sand... but by increasing your weight to hold your ground, your mobility has been restricted in return, hasn't it?"

"What?"

Neji had appeared behind Gaara before he even realized it.

"Didn't you want to experience my true strength? It just so happens I have a technique I'd like to test out on you..."

Neji stepped back, freed his hands, and shifted his legs, having already assumed his stance.

"That palm technique again?"

Gaara chuckled. He had already experienced the Eight Trigrams Sixty-Four Palms during the Chunin Exams, and it had been completely useless against his Armor of Sand.

But then he froze—what was the meaning of that confidence and smile in Neji's eyes?

"Sorry, but I win again this time."

Neji struck one palm, then two, landing heavy blows on both of Gaara's shoulders.

"What is happening?"

Gaara's eyes widened as the Armor of Sand around him began to flake off, falling away bit by bit...

"Four palms, eight palms, sixteen palms!"

It was as if an eggshell were being shattered, beyond any hope of repair.

"Thirty-two palms!"

Neji's footwork was swift and incredibly practiced, moving both in front of and behind his opponent!

There were no flaws in his movements, and Gaara felt his entire body go numb, unable to move at all. This was on an entirely different level from the technique he had faced during the Chunin Exams.

"This is Lightning Style: Eight Trigrams Sixty-Four Palms!"

Thud, thud, thud, thud, thud, thud!

Each palm struck the Armor of Sand, and Gaara's entire body was soon covered in lightning-attribute chakra.

It felt as if an invisible force was surging into his body again and again.

Once, twice, dozens of times!

By the time his entire body was numb, he realized: was this the power of the Eight Trigrams Palms?

Even his body's meridians and pressure points were being controlled by someone else, and the flow of his chakra was completely beyond his own command.

Terrifying!

The partial Tailed Beast transformation had long since vanished. As the sixty-fourth palm concluded, Gaara was sent flying several meters away, collapsing onto his knees.

"Cough, cough, cough!"

He coughed violently, eyes wide, bracing himself with his hands as he stared at the ground before him.

The sand no longer moved to protect him with its usual vigor; it seemed to have lost its power in the face of that palm technique, unable to be summoned again.

"You bastard, what exactly did you do to me?"

Gaara growled in fury, realizing for the first time in his life that he was being held completely in check, utterly unable to break free from such a restricted state.

"Nothing much. I just wanted to tell you that Konoha will not be destroyed by the likes of you."

At these words, Gaara's eyes widened.

Following this, Neji retreated into the shadows.

Moving alone through the night, he protected this quiet village—the village that had hurt him, yet had always been his home!

Within the scope of his control, he would not allow anyone to wreak havoc at will.

Neji leaped between the rooftops, preparing to deactivate his Byakugan, when suddenly, a strange chakra surged into his field of vision.

"At the nine o'clock position, a ninja at the Jonin level is erupting with chakra?"

As the night breeze blew, Neji was startled, looking curiously in that direction.