Solar Term Sword

The group had temporarily settled down, and Neji became incredibly busy.

Every morning, he studied under Tsunade. In the afternoons, he went to Wet Bone Forest to meditate on his visualization. After returning, he found time to guide Xiao Xi in the Gentle Fist.

After that came his daily taijutsu training. At night, while meditating and refining qi, he also had to study the secret scrolls obtained from the Main House.

Tsunade's teaching methods were rather rough. For both medical ninjutsu and Sealing Jutsu, she simply tossed Neji a pile of scrolls and had him study them himself, telling him to ask if he did not understand anything.

Fortunately, Neji was a genius with a sharp mind. On top of that, he had at least gone through nine years of compulsory education in his previous life, so his understanding of human organs and their functions was more comprehensive than the crude medical system in the ninja world.

Thus, when discussing medical ninjutsu with Tsunade, he would often inadvertently mention modern terms and human circulatory systems, astonishing even her. She repeatedly called Neji a genius unseen in a hundred years.

The Palm Sage Art and Chakra Scalpel—these two techniques that could handle ninety percent of ninja surgeries—had also become second nature to Neji.

As for ninjutsu such as poison preparation and antidotes, once Neji discovered that qi could render him immune to all kinds of toxins, he only dabbled in them before focusing all his energy on Sealing Jutsu.

Just as Neji had guessed, the Yin Seal and Strength of a Hundred Technique were indeed ninjutsu developed specifically for women. Neji could not cultivate them at all.

Fortunately, Neji had never placed any hopes on them. With a Dantian, he truly had no need for those techniques.

As for Tsunade's unique Monstrous Strength Technique, it left Neji thoroughly battered and bruised for several days.

Through sparring with Tsunade—no, it would be more accurate to say through Tsunade's one-sided beating—he finally grasped the essence of the Monstrous Strength Technique. By absorbing its methods of exerting force, he raised the power of the Wandering Dragon Eight Trigrams Palm to another level.

At the same time, Neji clearly saw the gap between himself and Shadow Rank experts. Among Chunin, he was among the strongest. Among Jonin, he could defeat some ninjas with limited skill sets, but he was still far from experienced Jonin.

After cultivating through this peaceful stretch of days, Neji had a feeling that the moment he successfully completed the visualization of the Thousand-Armed Statue would be the moment he stepped into the realm of Jonin.

By then, Special Jonin like Gekko Hayate and Kurenai Yuhi would be no match for him at all. Even Kakashi before Shippuden would not be beyond his ability to fight.

The days passed one by one. Tsunade and Shizune traveled carefree through the mountains and rivers. It was clear that Tsunade's earlier travels had been a painful form of escape, but now they were slowly becoming something she enjoyed.

Driven by the pressure of the future and his goal of standing higher to take in a broader view, Neji did not dare relax his training in the slightest, aside from the day he first arrived in the Land of Hot Water.

Xiao Xi trained diligently as well, and her use of the Hyuga Clan's traditional Gentle Fist was already quite disciplined.

Xiao Xi had a gentle personality and was not suited to the domineering style of the Soaring Dragon Palm. After teaching her the Gentle Fist Technique and its variations, Neji planned to draw inspiration from Hinata Hyuga's future Protective Eight Trigrams and create a technique better suited to her.

In an unnamed valley in the Land of Hot Water, a jade-belt waterfall poured down from above, smashing against the rocks at the bottom and exploding into mist that scattered seven-colored halos beneath the sunlight.

The flowing water gathered into a pool at the bottom of the valley. Due to the terrain, it had formed a unique hot spring pool, wisps of steam drifting through the air and making the water seem dreamlike.

The valley was like spring all year round. A level patch of ground had been cleared on the slope opposite the pool, where several bamboo buildings stood scattered about. Figures occasionally moved back and forth, accompanied from time to time by bright laughter.

Beside the steaming hot spring, a nine-year-old boy lightly tapped the bluestone with his toes, his slender figure slicing through the air like cold bamboo.

His palms traced rounded arcs, stirring the mist into the form of wandering dragons. Wherever his palm wind swept, the vines hanging from cracks in the rocks trembled and rustled.

Opposite him, a fifteen-year-old girl held her fingers in a sword seal, her dark brows slightly furrowed. As her sword fingers swept through the air, the hem of her plain white robes was lifted by the heat of the spring, making her seem like an immortal swordswoman stepping out of an ink-wash painting.

"Young Master Neji, I'm coming!"

As she spoke, the girl stepped across the water's surface, leaving ripples behind her. In a blur, she had already arrived before Neji.

Her sword fingers suddenly stabbed toward Neji's face. Fierce chakra surged from her fingertips, extending more than half a foot and condensing into the shape of a blade that emitted a chilling white glow.

Neji flipped up his left palm in a pagoda-supporting stance. Though he moved later, he struck first, slapping the girl's wrist. His right palm rose like a coiling dragon lifting its head, whistling as it struck toward her other icy sword fingers as she changed moves.

Bang!

They separated at the first touch. Neji stood firm as a boulder without retreating a single step, while Xiao Xi flew backward like a swallow. Then, in midair, Xiao Xi suddenly flicked both hands. Two streaks of cold light shot from her fingertips and sped toward Neji.

In an instant, Neji felt as though he had been locked onto. Though the cold lights had yet to arrive, their icy edges already made his face sting.

"Rotation: Mirror Reversal!"

Neji shouted, and a chakra sphere instantly flared to life. The two cold lights were immediately drawn into it, then shot back along their original path at even greater speed the next moment.

"Ah! Young Master, you're cheating!"

The girl cried out coquettishly. She turned and landed with both feet on the water's surface, yet her hands did not slow in the slightest. Her sword fingers crossed through profound trajectories, and six streams of sword qi appeared one after another within a thirty-foot radius around her.

The six streams of sword qi flickered in and out of sight, each carrying a different aura. Some were like a spring breeze brushing the face, some like thunder flashing through the sky, and some as dense as rain.

"Solar Term Sword, go!"

Xiao Xi shouted. Stepping through the Eight Trigrams positions, she condensed another stream of sword qi at her fingertips. Her body surged forward, swiftly closing in on Neji like a startled swan casting its reflection.

Seven points of cold light flew past the girl's figure, like the Big Dipper descending into the mortal world, like meteors falling to earth.

Four blades met the sword qi Neji had returned earlier and silently vanished like melting snow. The remaining three grew even stronger, whistling as they stabbed toward Neji.

Neji leaned back to evade the lethal sword stars, then crushed pebbles beneath his heel to launch himself into the air. His palms thrust out with a dragon's roar tearing through the air.

"Wandering Dragon: Sea-Covering!"

The dragon head bared its fangs, carrying an unstoppable momentum as it raised towering waves and slammed toward the girl. Xiao Xi gasped and danced her sword fingers. Three streams of sword qi swept past Neji from behind, stabbing toward him from different directions in an attempt to force him to change moves.

But how could one who charged forward without hesitation have any concern for what lay behind? With a flick of the dragon's tail, it exploded the instant it swept over the sword qi, dispersing them into nothingness. Neji's figure only grew faster.

A flicker of panic crossed Xiao Xi's face. The sword qi flashing at her fingertips flickered once, then suddenly dissipated.

Yet in Neji's Byakugan, he saw the last of the girl's chakra erupt through the major acupoints across her body, instantly forming a rapidly spinning chakra sphere.

At the same time, the high-speed sphere drove two streams of sword qi along its surface at tremendous speed, radiating extreme cutting force.

"Rotation Sword Dance!"

Boom!

The moment the two forces collided, flashing chakra violently crashed together. The pool was instantly blasted into a deep crater, and the erupting water column carried the waterfall upward in reverse, exposing the wet cliff face behind it.

At the center of the collision, they remained locked for barely two breaths before the coiling dragon before Neji's palms opened its jaws and bit down with all its strength. In an instant, the sword qi shattered. The next moment, Xiao Xi and her Rotation were sent flying.

"Pretty tough!"

Neji withdrew his stance and stood upright, nodding slightly. The next second, the chakra sphere in midair cracked, then shattered before him.

"Young Master, you won again!"

Sweat beaded on the girl's forehead as she fell onto the water's surface, panting heavily. She puffed out her cheeks and spoke in annoyance.