Byakugan Clash: The Battle Where Gentle Fist Failed

"Here already?"

Chiba raised his fists, leaving himself no room to keep retreating.

Neji turned around, the veins around his Byakugan already bulging.

"Faster than I expected."

"You took too wide a route."

"If I hadn't, how would I have confirmed that Shikamaru was staying by the flag?"

Neji assumed the opening stance of the Gentle Fist, the distance between his palms perfectly sealing off Chiba's path forward.

"You had Naruto lead Kiba away, Hinata lure me here, and the only one left could be Shikamaru."

"So what if you know?"

"Tenten has already sealed off the riverbank. Rock Lee will return once Naruto's clones are exhausted. You can't keep your flag."

"You're still standing here."

Chiba stepped forward half a pace.

"So you want my white cloth even more."

Neji did not deny it.

"Taking a flag is only worth one point. If I force you out, the rest of the training will save us quite a bit of trouble."

"Try it."

A palm flashed past Chiba's chest. Neji's first strike did not touch his clothes, merely probing the acupoints near his right shoulder with chakra.

Chiba twisted aside, driving his fist out with his waist and abdomen, straight toward Neji's ribs.

Neji raised a palm against the fist, his wrist smoothly pulling it outward.

The instant the two forces met, Chiba's punch veered toward the tree trunk, while chakra from Neji's palm entered his meridians through his arm's acupoints.

"Gentle Fist isn't about competing with you in strength."

Neji's other hand had already reached for Chiba's chest.

Chiba raised his knee to intercept the arm and slammed his shoulder into Neji's chest, forcefully closing the distance until Neji could no longer fully extend his palms.

"Weak."

Neji slid sideways, his palm circling past Chiba's knee as his fingertips struck the meridians in his leg.

"First point."

Chakra entered the acupoint, obstructing the flow through his leg. The Sage Body immediately sent more power into the surrounding meridians.

The point that should have closed remained blocked for only a moment before chakra burst it open again.

Chiba landed without being affected, his right fist grazing Neji's shoulder and forcing him back to the edge of the slope.

Neji touched the spot where he had been struck.

"Your acupoints can recover on their own?"

"Keep going."

Chiba did not answer. His foot stepped over the earthen slope, and his fist shot toward Neji once more.

Neji ducked beneath it, his palms repeatedly striking Chiba's abdomen and the side of his chest. Each touch left behind a trace of chakra, attempting to sever several pathways at once.

Three acupoints closed in succession, yet the chakra in Chiba's chest did not stop flowing.

The vitality granted by the Sage Body drove through his meridians. Tiny new branches quickly formed around the blockages, bypassing the chakra Neji had left behind.

"Second point. Third point."

After counting them, Neji's palm stopped just before Chiba's heart.

Chiba seized his wrist and drove his forehead into Neji's forehead protector.

Neji tilted his head aside, but the edge of his protector was still scraped with a shallow mark.

They retreated at the same time, leaving crisscrossing tracks in the dirt.

"You counted wrong."

Chiba raised his struck left arm. His fingers could still clench tightly.

Neji looked into his body with the Byakugan.

Gentle Fist chakra still lingered in all three acupoints, but his meridians had already bypassed them from the sides. Even the chakra's flow rate had barely slowed.

"Your body isn't normal."

"Senju have never been ordinary."

Neji stepped forward, shifting the positions of both palms.

"Resilient meridians don't mean Gentle Fist is ineffective. As long as I seal enough acupoints, you'll still fall."

"You can count until you fall first."

Palms and fists collided again. Neji cut inward along Chiba's arm, avoiding his frontal force with every strike.

Chiba no longer tried to deliver complete strikes. He used only his shoulders, elbows, and knees to compress the distance, preventing Neji from maintaining the spacing Gentle Fist required.

Neji withdrew a step, pressing the heel of his palm against Chiba's elbow.

"Fourth point."

"Too slow."

Chiba let that chakra enter his meridians, then grabbed Neji by the collar with his other hand and dragged him toward a nearby tree trunk.

Neji planted a foot against the tree, used the force to flip over Chiba's shoulder, and struck his back from behind.

"Fifth point."

Chiba's backward grab missed, and the chakra flow through his back stalled for a moment.

Neji did not retreat. Two fingers were already chasing the sixth acupoint.

A fist swept in from the side. Neji could only pull back his palm to protect his temple, his arm knocked off course by the impact.

Chiba turned and pressed forward, driving his knee into Neji's abdomen.

Neji blocked with both palms overlapped, his shoes sliding several steps through the mud.

"You're letting me hit you on purpose."

"You noticed too late."

Chiba rolled his shoulders and back. The five obstructed acupoints had already recovered by more than half.

Neji did not approach immediately.

"The Sage Body?"

Chiba looked into his Byakugan.

"The Hyuga's ancient records weren't all burned."

"The Senju records mention that even when the First Hokage's acupoints were damaged, he could rebuild his meridians through sheer vitality."

Neji adjusted his breathing once more.

"Your recovery is inferior to the First Hokage's. As long as my attacks outpace your recovery, the outcome won't change."

"Then speed up."

Neji slid forward, chakra trailing from his palms to form a sealing range. Every possible retreat route fell within his Byakugan's field of vision.

Chiba did not withdraw. His fist smashed directly into the storm of palms.

His wrist and forearm were struck in succession, but his fist did not lose all its force and still landed against Neji's chest.

Neji rolled away most of the force with his shoulder, his right hand slipping through Chiba's arm and heading straight for the meridians near his heart.

That was an area Iruka had explicitly forbidden them from attacking.

Before his palm could land, Neji changed direction and struck below the breastbone.

Chakra flooded into the acupoint, and Chiba's right arm finally lost some of its strength.

"Sixth point."

"You don't dare strike the heart."

"This is training, not a fight to the death."

"You want to tear apart even the Bird in a Cage, yet you still care about academy rules?"

Neji's palm paused for an instant.

Chiba seized the opening and drove his left fist into Neji's lower abdomen. He did not fully commit his strength, but it was enough to force Neji back.

"Don't use the main family to provoke me."

"You're afraid you'll lose control."

"Shut up."

Neji closed in again, his attacks noticeably faster than before. Chakra from his palms repeatedly struck Chiba's shoulder.

Chiba raised his arm to block the following attacks. His bones absorbed the palm force, but his meridians were sealed again.

The Sage Body was still repairing the earlier acupoints, and the fresh blockages made his left shoulder feel heavy.

[Sage Body is resisting meridian sealing.]

[Current chakra flow remains stable.]

"How long can you keep this up?"

Neji could not hear the system notifications, but his Byakugan showed him the chakra constantly rerouting itself.

"Longer than you."

Chiba shook out his partially weakened left arm and switched to attacking with his right fist.

Neji evaded the punch and struck toward his wrist with the heel of his palm.

Chiba retracted his fist and sent it out again. Neji changed palms in response, their offense and defense always staying within half an arm's reach.

Wood chips continually fell from the tree trunks caught in the barrage of fists and kicks, while dents were stamped into the mud along the slope.

Naruto's shout came from the distance.

"Kiba, you're chasing the wrong one! This one's the real one!"

Barking and footsteps swept through the woods, followed by several more of Naruto's voices from different directions.

Neji swept the distance with his Byakugan.

"Since when can his Clone Technique create so many solid bodies?"

"You tell me."

"There's other chakra mixed into those clones."

Neji quickly spotted thin vines wrapped around the hems of the clones' clothes.

"You're using Wood Release to maintain their forms?"

"Just keeping them from dispersing too quickly."

"Then how much chakra do you have left?"

Neji spread both palms and struck repeatedly at Chiba's arms, chest, and abdomen.

Chiba blocked the first few palms, but he was half a beat too slow on the final strike, exposing the right side beneath his ribs.

The Byakugan had already seen that the chakra there was weak, and the nearby acupoints had also been affected by earlier attacks.

Neji did not hesitate. The heel of his palm passed through Chiba's defense and struck solidly against his clothes.

All of his Gentle Fist chakra poured in.

Chiba's body lurched sideways, his shoe dragging a furrow through the mud.

Just as Neji was about to withdraw his hand, his fingertips touched a layer of tiny protrusions inside Chiba's clothes.

They cracked beneath the force of his palm, and pale purple powder clung to his skin.

Chiba raised his eyes.

"Got you."