Neji was startled. This was...!!
"I can tell you had a tragic childhood too, but..."
Gaara spoke as the corners of his mouth stretched into a wide grin. Half his face had become monstrous.
His right eye in particular had shriveled up, making him look chilling.
The killing intent in that gaze was not only pure, but incredibly intense and heavy!
It was even more chilling than Orochimaru's gaze!
"Come on!"
Like a blade's tip slicing through a gale, Neji's footsteps barely touched the rooftop. The tiles didn't even tremble.
Under the moonlight, the two clashed!
A palm strike landed lightly on Gaara's back, but the sand that moved like a living thing reacted with lightning speed.
This time, it wasn't a sweeping attack over a wide area. It was a precise strike aimed at a specific spot.
The sand was no longer loose and scattered. It gathered into a mass, moving like Gaara's own limbs, under his complete control!
Neji had activated his Byakugan well in advance, letting him clearly see every threat.
After three exchanges, Neji retreated.
"You're fast. Even Mode One can't keep up with your speed?"
Gaara's eyes widened, his desire to fight growing stronger.
It wasn't just him. The message conveyed by his right eye seemed to hunger for battle and bloodshed too—an intense, overwhelming desire!
"I can sense the monster inside you!"
Neji took a deep breath. How could he not yearn for battle himself?
He didn't just crave it—he wanted to grow stronger through a fight like this! His feelings were just as pure!
"Shield of Sand..."
Gaara began forming Hand Seals. It was as if he'd searched for a thousand years, only to finally find an opponent he could fight to his heart's content!
"Sand Shuriken!"
"Shk shk shk shk shk!"
The shuriken formed from sand spun rapidly as they flew toward Neji.
He retreated with swift footwork.
But the Sand Shuriken weren't particularly powerful. The moment they flew past Neji, they exploded.
The fragments began sticking to Neji's body, but with his Anbu uniform, he was no longer so easy to catch.
He slipped free like an eel.
"Whoosh!"
Chakra surged beneath Neji's feet, and he hung from the eaves, evading every Sand Shuriken.
Gaara took a step forward and smiled. "Oh? Just how many abilities do those eyes of yours have?"
As Gaara moved, the maximum range of his sand control increased.
Gaara walked forward, and Neji immediately dodged the pursuing sand and fell back.
After several more steps back and forth, Neji landed in an open street.
"If we keep fighting up there, this guy might really undergo Tailed Beast Transformation, and then we'll be in trouble. I need a chance to get close and do what needs to be done..."
Neji muttered to himself. Without him noticing, Gaara had appeared behind him.
"Got you!"
Shashashasha!
The heavy sand pressed down on Neji's legs, pinning his steps in place.
"I can target your chakra too!"
Gaara's mismatched eyes widened. Even his voice seemed to carry a sharp, terrifying edge.
"You can't escape now."
Neji tried to move, but found his legs firmly pinned by the sand as it began winding around his body.
"Come on, show me what else you've got up your sleeve!" Gaara tilted his head, his entire demeanor having turned bloodthirsty and strange.
"I'll beat you completely, but not yet."
Neji gritted his teeth, growing anxious as he clenched his fist.
"Refine chakra..."
He steadied himself and began circulating chakra through his entire body, forcing it through his tenketsu...
"One strike probably won't be enough. This level of suppression..."
Neji unclenched his fist. Powerful chakra surged from within him. He now had two to three times as much chakra as an ordinary person, and it carried the properties of Wind Style.
"What's going on? I suppressed all your chakra!"
Gaara's astonished expression almost made Neji laugh.
How could he know that Neji had used Rotation infused with nature transformation? The Wind Style chakra had been provided by the system—how could Gaara suppress it?
"Wind Style: Rotation!"
A massive spinning whirlwind swept Gaara up completely.
The Shield of Sand defended him automatically, while the Armor of Sand protected him tightly. Even the powerful Rotation, like a tornado, couldn't budge him.
A clash between two Absolute Defenses!
"Just as you'd expect from the sand's Absolute Defense... But by increasing its weight to protect yourself, you've restricted your own movement, haven't you?"
"What?"
Neji had appeared behind Gaara without him noticing.
"Didn't you want to see my true strength? As it happens, I've got a technique I'd like you to try..."
Neji stepped back, freeing his hands. He shifted his legs into position, ready to begin.
"That palm technique again?"
Gaara smirked. He'd experienced the Eight Trigrams Sixty-Four Palms during the exams, and it had been useless against his Armor of Sand.
But then he froze. What was behind the confidence—and the smile—in Neji's eyes?
"Sorry, but I'm winning again."
Neji struck Gaara's shoulders with one palm, then another.
"What's going on?"
Gaara's eyes widened as the Armor of Sand around him began to fall away, piece by piece...
"Four Palms, Eight Palms, Sixteen Palms!"
Like a cracked eggshell, it couldn't be repaired.
"Thirty-Two Palms!"
Neji moved with incredible speed and skill, attacking from all sides!
His movements were flawless. Gaara felt his whole body going numb and couldn't move at all. This was on an entirely different level from the technique he'd experienced during the Chunin Ninja Exams.
"This is Lightning Style: Eight Trigrams Sixty-Four Palms!"
Thud, thud, thud, thud, thud, thud!
With every palm that struck the Armor of Sand, Lightning Release Chakra coursed through Gaara's body.
It was as if an invisible force kept surging into him, again and again.
Once, twice, dozens of times!
By the time Gaara's entire body had gone numb, he understood. Was this the Eight Trigrams Palm?
His own chakra pathways and tenketsu had been controlled, and he'd lost all control over the flow of his chakra.
Terrifying!
Partial Tailed Beast Transformation had already faded. When the Sixty-Fourth Palm landed, Gaara was sent flying several meters before dropping to his knees.
"Cough, cough, cough!"
He coughed violently, eyes wide as he braced himself with his hands and stared at the ground in front of him.
The sand no longer rushed to protect him. It seemed to have lost its power in the face of that palm technique, unable to move at all.
"You bastard, what did you do to me?"
Gaara growled furiously. For the first time in his life, he'd found himself completely subdued, powerless to break free of this restriction.
"Nothing. I just wanted to tell you that Konoha won't be destroyed by you."
Gaara's eyes widened at those words.
Then Neji quietly withdrew.
He was acting alone in the night, in this tranquil village—the village that had hurt him and that he'd always protected!
Within the limits of what he could control, he wouldn't let anyone wreak havoc.
Neji leaped from roof to roof, just about to deactivate his Byakugan when a strange chakra suddenly entered his field of vision.
"Someone with the strength of a jonin is releasing chakra in the nine o'clock direction?"
The night breeze stirred. Startled, Neji looked toward that direction, curiosity piqued.
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