Neji

In the forest clearing, Zaku and Kin lay on the ground. Though still conscious, they had already lost the ability to fight. Rock Lee and Tenten stood nearby, their eyes fixed on Yunju, ready to make a move at any moment.

Neji's Byakugan remained active. Those pale white eyes reflected the flow of chakra within Yunju's body—vast and dense, like a bottomless river. For a genin to possess that much chakra was far too abnormal.

Yunju did not move.

Standing within the encirclement of the three of them, his left eye beneath the bandages calmly watched Neji, as though he were considering something.

After a moment, he spoke.

"Neji Hyuga."

Neji said nothing, merely focusing slightly.

"I want to fight you one-on-one." Yunju's voice was not loud, but every word was clear. "Just the two of us."

Rock Lee frowned. "What do you mean? There are three of us—"

"Have your teammates restrain mine." Yunju cut him off, tilting his head toward Zaku and Kin. "They can't resist anymore. Your people can watch them. Mine won't run."

Neji's Byakugan shifted slightly, as if judging Yunju's intentions.

"Why do you want a one-on-one fight?" Neji asked.

"Because I want to prove something," Yunju said. "I didn't get here by relying on numbers or luck."

He paused.

"And I have something to say to you. Not now—after the fight." Yunju looked directly into Neji's Byakugan. "I need you to take this battle seriously. Not because you're stronger than me, but because what I have to say is worth hearing."

Rock Lee and Tenten exchanged a glance, both seeing confusion in the other's eyes.

Neji was silent for several seconds.

"You want to earn the chance to talk through strength?" he asked.

"Yes."

Neji tilted his head slightly and looked at Rock Lee and Tenten.

"Lee, Tenten," he said. "Go watch those two Sound Ninja."

"Neji!" Rock Lee grew anxious. "The enemy could be plotting something—"

"If he wanted to run, he would have done so earlier," Neji said. "He didn't attack, which means he truly wants to fight."

Rock Lee wanted to say more, but Tenten grabbed his sleeve.

"Let's listen to Neji," Tenten said, her gaze settling on Yunju. "This person... is a little strange. He doesn't seem like an ordinary Sound Ninja."

The two walked over to Zaku and Kin and moved them beneath a tree. Zaku had already passed out. Kin sat against the trunk, clutching her injured left arm, her eyes vacant.

Rock Lee stood nearby with his arms crossed, but his gaze never left Yunju for even a moment.

Tenten stood on the other side, a kunai clenched in her hand, ready to provide support at any time.

But neither of them made a move.

Because Neji had said it—a one-on-one fight.

Only Yunju and Neji remained in the clearing.

They stood about ten meters apart, Neji's Byakugan already locked onto him.

"Are you ready?" Neji asked.

Yunju did not answer. He merely lowered himself slightly, and the perforated armor on his right arm gave off a faint metallic scrape.

Neji said no more. He extended both hands flat, taking the opening stance of the Gentle Fist.

The next second—

Yunju moved first.

His hands rapidly formed seals. Water Release chakra surged through his body, and he opened his mouth to spew out a massive stream of water.

"Water Release: Water Prison Jutsu!"

The water gathered in midair into an enormous sphere over three meters wide, descending toward Neji. The terrifying aspect of the Water Prison Technique was that once trapped inside, the enemy would suffocate within the water sphere while their movements were restricted, making escape nearly impossible.

Neji's Byakugan had already seen through the water's trajectory.

He neither retreated nor dodged. His body began spinning at high speed as enormous amounts of chakra erupted from every chakra point across his body, forming a perfect spherical barrier.

"Rotation!"

The water sphere crashed into Rotation's defensive wall. A massive spray exploded outward, but the Water Prison Technique was forcefully repelled. Water scattered in every direction, gathering into a shallow pool on the ground, completely ineffective.

Yunju's left eye narrowed slightly.

Rotation's defensive range was even wider than he had expected, and its rotation speed was incredibly fast. The Water Prison Technique's trapping effect could not be brought into play at all.

As expected of the Hyuga clan's absolute defense.

Neji gave Yunju no chance to catch his breath. The instant Rotation ended, his figure flashed forward, already closing in on Yunju.

"Gentle Fist: Eight Trigrams Two Palms!"

Both palms shot out, aimed directly at Yunju's chest.

Yunju's pupils contracted. His body instinctively arched backward, barely avoiding the first palm, but the second brushed across his bandages, tearing away several scraps of cloth.

He did not dare let his guard down—the Gentle Fist did not injure opponents through brute strength. It used chakra to seal their chakra points. Once struck, chakra would be blocked, and both ninjutsu and taijutsu would be greatly weakened.

Yunju immediately used the Substitution Technique. His body transformed into a wooden log that blocked Neji, while his real body appeared five meters behind him, hands forming seals once more.

"Wind Release: Wind Blade!"

Three sharp blades of wind flew from his palms, slicing toward Neji in a fan-shaped spread.

Neji's Byakugan caught the Wind Blades' trajectories. Rather than taking them head-on, he twisted aside at an unbelievable angle. The three blades passed by his side and over his head, cutting off several strands of black hair but causing no real damage.

"Your ninjutsu is strong," Neji said as he pressed forward again. "But before the Byakugan, every movement is transparent."

Yunju said nothing.

He knew Neji was right. The Byakugan's field of vision was nearly a full 360 degrees without blind spots, and it could see through the flow of chakra. Clone Technique, Substitution Technique, Transformation Technique—these basic methods of interference were meaningless before the Byakugan.

Neji closed in once more, his palms striking out in an unbroken chain.

"Eight Trigrams Four Palms!"

"Eight Trigrams Eight Palms!"

Yunju retreated again and again, barely blocking several attacks with taijutsu, but Neji's speed and precision far exceeded his own. The fourth palm struck his right shoulder. Sharp chakra pierced into his body, and Yunju felt the chakra flow in his right arm instantly become sluggish.

His chakra point had been sealed.

It was not completely blocked, but the speed at which he could form seals with his right hand had clearly slowed.

"You've already lost." Neji's voice was calm and cold. "Once your chakra points are sealed, the precision and power of your ninjutsu will decline. If we continue, it's only a matter of time."

Yunju's left eye moved slightly beneath the bandages.

He knew Neji was right.

But he had also noticed something.

Though Neji's Byakugan could see through everything, there was one detail—when a bright light appeared, Neji would instinctively blink.

It was not a flaw in the Byakugan's ability, but a biological instinct.

Any eye, when faced with a sudden bright light, would suffer momentary visual suppression.

Even the Byakugan.

Lightning Release chakra quietly gathered in Yunju's left hand.

Not the thrown version, not a long-range attack—just the most basic Quick Flash, unleashed at point-blank range.

Neji charged in again, both palms striking toward Yunju's chest. The angle of the attack was vicious, and Yunju had almost no way to evade.

But he did not evade.

He opened his left hand, and a mass of Lightning Release chakra compressed to the limit exploded before Neji—

"Lightning Release: Flash!"

A blinding white light erupted between them.

Neji's Byakugan instinctively shut—he could not control it. It was a physiological reaction of the eyes, one even the Byakugan could not resist. In that instant, his vision became a blank expanse of white.

It was that instant.

Yunju did not waste it.

One hand seized Neji's wrist, while the other condensed Wind Release chakra into a blade and slashed sideways.

"Wind Release: Wind Blade!"

It was not meant to cut, but to create distance.

The Wind Blade swept between them, forcing Neji to instinctively step back. Yunju used the momentum to leap away, opening the distance between them to five meters once more.

Neji's eyes regained their vision.

He stood where he was, looking at Yunju with a slight frown.

"That flash..." Neji said. "What kind of ninjutsu was that?"

Yunju did not answer.

He was adjusting his breathing. The chakra points in his right arm were half-sealed, and his seal-forming speed had clearly fallen. But he did not panic.

Because that flash of light had confirmed what he had been considering all along.

Lightning Release: Flash—though it could not directly defeat Neji, it truly could counter the Byakugan's "absolute perception."

As long as it could blind Neji, even for only a fraction of a second, it would be enough to create an opportunity.

Yunju took a deep breath.

Next, he would gamble.

Lightning Release chakra gathered in his left hand once more, but this time, he did not release it at point-blank range. He compressed the mass of Lightning Release chakra tighter and smaller, then, the instant Neji charged toward him, fiercely thrust his hand forward.

The ball of light left his hand.

It flew out.

Even Yunju froze for a moment.

The thrown version of Quick Flash—the technique he had practiced many times without success—had somehow succeeded in actual combat, without any warning at all.

The mass of Lightning Release chakra arced through the air, flew before Neji, and exploded in midair.

An even stronger flash than the point-blank version erupted directly in front of Neji.

"Wha—"

Neji had no time to close his eyes.

White light swallowed his entire field of vision.

It was not merely blindness—Neji felt as if someone had struck his eyes with a hammer. His vision was filled with glaring white afterimages, and he could see nothing at all.

There was no time to activate Rotation.

No time to use the Gentle Fist.

At that moment, Neji felt true danger for the first time in the Chunin Exams.

"Neji!" Rock Lee's shout came from nearby, filled with anxiety and shock.

Tenten had already thrown the kunai in her hand, but the distance was too great. It could not reach them in time.

Yunju moved.

"Body Flicker Technique."

His figure vanished from where he stood. The next instant, he had appeared behind Neji.

The perforated armor on his right arm was held before Neji's throat, while his left hand pressed against Neji's back, controlling every point from which he could exert force.

If Yunju wished, the soundwave conduction device inside the armor could shatter Neji's neck in one-tenth of a second.

But he did not.

He merely restrained Neji, his force as precise as if measured with a ruler—it would not hurt him, but he would never be able to break free.

Neji's eyes were still stung by the intense light, his vision completely blurred. He could feel the cold metal before his throat and the steady force of the hand against his back.

He did not struggle.

Because he knew that if his opponent had wanted to kill him, he would already be dead.

The clearing fell silent.

Rock Lee's eyes widened, his jaw nearly dropping. His fists clenched with cracking sounds, but he did not rush forward—because he could see that Neji made no move to resist under Yunju's control.

Tenten's kunai stopped in midair, her face filled with disbelief.

"Neji..." she murmured.