Bang!
The dull impact rang out like a sledgehammer, slamming viciously into the hearts of every Leaf ninja present.
Neji Hyuga crashed like a tattered sack onto the edge of the arena over ten meters away.
The hard stone floor was smashed into a shallow, human-shaped crater.
"Pfft—"
He violently spat out a mouthful of blood, staining the ground before him a glaring dark red.
Blue arcs of electricity still crackled wildly across his body, burning his pristine white training clothes full of holes.
Waves of agony, as if every bone in his body had come apart, tore through him.
He struggled to rise, only to find that the chakra pathways throughout his limbs and body had been numbed by that tyrannical Lightning Release power.
Even moving a finger was difficult.
He had lost.
He, the once-in-a-century genius of the Hyuga Clan.
Had actually... lost so cleanly, so completely.
His pride, the Byakugan; his pride, the Gentle Fist; his pride, the absolute defense of Eight Trigrams Palms Revolving Heaven.
Before that Uchiha boy, they were nothing more than a ridiculous children's game.
Utterly helpless.
Inside the Central Tower, silence reigned like death.
The Leaf ninjas in the stands stood with their mouths agape, frozen stiff.
They stared at the utterly miserable figure in the arena, their minds completely blank.
Their final hope... had shattered just like that?
Tap, tap, tap.
Crisp footsteps echoed through the deathly silent arena.
Sasuke Uchiha withdrew the lightning from his hand and walked step by step toward Neji, who lay on the ground, his face expressionless.
Beneath his tousled black hair, those scarlet three-tomoe Sharingan looked down on him from above.
There was no joy of victory in his eyes, only icy indifference.
"Do you still think fate cannot be defeated?"
Sasuke's voice was not