Caged Bird?

[Fifth Match: Hinata Hyuga VS Neji Hyuga]

"An internal battle within the Hyuga Clan...?"

Someone in the stands gasped softly.

For Konoha's ninja, the grudges and conflicts between the Hyuga Clan's Main House and Branch House were no secret, given that the clan was now the foremost noble family.

And this match was more than just a contest between two Genin. It was more like a collision of fate.

At the center of the arena.

Neji Hyuga had already been standing there. There was no emotion in his pale white eyes, as though he were looking at a dead object. When Hinata timidly walked down into the arena, a cold, mocking smile curled across Neji's lips.

"Concede, Lady Hinata."

Neji's voice was terrifyingly calm, yet it was like a sharp blade stabbing directly into Hinata's heart. "You aren't suited to be a ninja. Your personality is too weak, too kind. Your gaze is wandering right now. That is instinctive fear when facing someone strong. Deep down, you've already decided that you've lost."

"I... I..."

Hinata twisted her hands together, her body trembling uncontrollably. Neji's words were like a curse, every one striking precisely at the most vulnerable part of her heart.

"People cannot change."

Neji activated his Byakugan. Veins bulged around his eyes, making him look savage and terrifying. "A dead last will always be a dead last. That is the 'fate' decided from the moment one is born. Just as I am from the Branch House and you are from the Main House, this is a reality that cannot be defied."

The terrifying pressure nearly suffocated Hinata. Her face went pale, and even breathing became difficult. Instinctively, she wanted to raise her hand and concede.

"Don't listen to his nonsense, Hinata!"

In the stands, Naruto gripped the railing with both hands and roared angrily. "What fate? Who the hell acknowledges something like that?! Send him flying! Just like Big Brother Ye Tian said!"

Naruto's shout was like a clap of thunder, making Hinata's entire body tremble.

She raised her head and looked at Naruto, then instinctively glanced toward Ye Tian, who sat in a corner holding a thermos and "watching the show."

Ye Tian was not tense like everyone else. His eyes were half-lidded, and his Divine Sense had already silently covered the entire arena.

"Tut, so this is the so-called 'Caged Bird'?"

Ye Tian looked at the spot on Neji's forehead covered by his forehead protector, where the Curse Mark lay. That was the sorrow of the Branch House. But what annoyed him even more was Neji's theory of "predestined fate."

"In the cultivation world, we believe that my fate is decided by me, not heaven. To follow is to be mortal; to defy is to become immortal."

Ye Tian took a sip of Goji Berry Tea and sneered inwardly. "The rotten rules of some mere mortal clan, and they dare call themselves fate? Kid, you're walking yourself into a dead end."

Watching the girl below, who was on the verge of being crushed by verbal abuse, Ye Tian sighed.

"Forget it. Since I ate your candy and practiced fists with you all night, I can't just stand by and watch you get ruined by such third-rate psychological tactics."

Ye Tian lightly tapped the railing with his fingers. An extremely subtle strand of Divine Sense ignored the distance through space and slipped directly into Hinata's mind.

[Transmission of Voice]

"Don't be afraid, Hinata."

Hinata, who had been trembling, froze.

That voice... was cool and calm, yet it carried a reassuring strength.

She did not turn around, because the voice seemed to be ringing directly within the depths of her soul.

"Ye... Ye Tian?" Hinata cried out in her heart.

"Shh. Don't speak. Listen to me."

Ye Tian's voice continued, carrying the calm ease of one surveying the world. "That guy is using his presence to suppress you. That is a Heart Demon. If you believe his nonsense, then you've already lost before the fight even begins."

"But... Brother Neji is very strong..." Hinata's heart was filled with helplessness.

"Strong? That is only an appearance."

Ye Tian snorted disdainfully. "Gentle Fist is about the flow of Chakra and sealing acupoints. But in my eyes, his fists are too 'hard,' full of hostility and stiffness. True Gentle Fist should be like water."

"Like water?" Hinata recalled the feeling from that night in the forest, when that mysterious person, Ye Tian, had guided her.

"That's right. Dripping water pierces stone; the softest can become the strongest."

Ye Tian's voice was like a great bell, scattering the fear in Hinata's heart. "Take a deep breath and sink your breath into your Dantian. Don't look into his eyes. Use your Byakugan to sense the flow of his aura. Remember, as long as someone is human, they will have weaknesses."

"Begin!"

At Gekko Hayate's command.

Neji attacked first. His movements were lightning-fast, his palm strikes fierce as they went straight for Hinata's vital points.

"So fast!" Sakura cried out from the stands.

Yet, facing that killing blow, Hinata, who should have been frightened stiff, suddenly had a change in her eyes.

It was the resolve that came after clarity.

"Left foot, empty stance, shift three inches to the side."

Ye Tian's instruction rang through Hinata's mind like precise navigation.

Hinata moved almost instinctively according to his command. Rather than meeting the attack head-on, she slightly turned her body, like a willow catkin drifting in the wind.

Whoosh!

Neji's palm brushed past Hinata's sleeve and missed!

"What?!" Neji's pupils contracted slightly.

"Now. Strike three inches beneath his right ribs. That is where an old injury has accumulated; his energy flow is weakest there!" Ye Tian's voice rang out again.

Hinata's gaze sharpened, and Gentle Fist, glowing with blue Chakra, shot out without hesitation!

Bang!

A dull impact sounded.

Although Neji reacted quickly enough to defend himself with Eight Trigrams Palms Revolving Heaven, the residual force from the palm strike still knocked him back two steps, making his face pale slightly.

The entire arena erupted in an uproar.

"That Hinata... actually forced Neji back?" Kiba rubbed his eyes in disbelief. "When did she become so strong?"

"No, she didn't become stronger."

On the other side of the stands, Guy watched with a grave expression. "Her movements... changed. They've become cleaner, smoother, almost as if... she predicted Neji's movements."

Only Ye Tian continued drinking his tea calmly, hiding his achievement and fame.

He was cheating with a Cultivator's Divine Sense.

Under the cover of his Divine Sense, every sign of Chakra moving within Neji's body, every minute contraction of his muscles, seemed as slow as a snail to Ye Tian. He only needed to tell Hinata half a second in advance to create the effect of "foreseeing the future."

The battle in the arena entered its fiercest stage.

The more Neji fought, the more alarmed he became.

This cousin before him was clearly weaker than him, with less Chakra as well, but she seemed like an entirely different person. She was as slippery as an eel.

No matter how he attacked, she always evaded from an incredibly strange angle, or his strikes landed right in his own blind spots for exerting force.

"This is impossible! How could a dead last possibly see through my movements?!"

Neji's mentality was beginning to collapse. His theory that "fate cannot be changed" was being ruthlessly slapped in the face by the facts before him.

"Nothing is impossible."

Hinata panted heavily. Although she had already suffered many injuries, her eyes had never been brighter.

Looking at Neji, she shouted out what was in her heart for the first time. "Brother Neji! Fate isn't decided by others. It is carved out by ourselves!"

"Shut up! What do you know?!"

Neji was completely enraged. He could not accept being lectured by "trash."

"Gentle Fist Art: Eight Trigrams Sixty-Four Palms!"

Neji took up that killing stance, and the Eight Trigrams formation beneath his feet instantly took shape.

"Oh no, that is...!" Hyuga Hiashi's expression changed drastically in the stands. This was a secret art passed down orally within the Main House. How could someone from the Branch House possibly know it?!

"You can't dodge it."

Ye Tian's voice sounded in Hinata's mind, carrying a trace of regret. "The difference in your levels is too great. You can't take this move. But... Hinata, remember the last thing I taught you."

"Sacrifice yourself for righteousness."

"Gather all your Chakra at your heart, not for defense, but for a countershock!"

Hinata did not hesitate in the slightest. Facing the countless palm shadows, she advanced instead of retreating, frantically compressing all the Chakra in her body into a single point in her chest.

Bang bang bang bang bang!

A dense series of impacts rang out. Hinata took all sixty-four palms head-on, and the acupoints throughout her body were sealed.

But as the final palm came down.

Boom!

The Chakra Hinata had stored in her chest erupted violently!

Although that power was not enough to injure Neji, it generated a powerful recoil. The instant Neji's palm made contact, it was jolted numb, and his movements stiffened for a moment.

Pfft!

Hinata spat out a mouthful of blood and was sent flying backward, crashing heavily onto the ground.

"Hmph, that is fate." Neji withdrew his hand and spoke coldly. "You lost."

"It's... it's not over yet..."

Just as the referee was about to announce the result, the figure lying on the ground actually trembled and, inch by inch... stood back up.

Hinata's face was covered in blood, and her arms hung limply at her sides, but she remained standing.

She looked at Neji, sorrow in her eyes. "Brother Neji... the one truly suffering... is you, isn't it?"

"What did you say?!" Neji reacted like a cat whose tail had been stepped on.

"The Caged Bird... traps not the body, but the heart." Hinata panted. "Because you want to resist but are powerless to do so, you vent that resentment on those weaker than you... using it to prove that fate cannot be defied... That is what is truly pitiful."

Those words were like a sharp sword, completely tearing open the hard disguise around Neji's heart.

"Shut up! Shut up! Shut up!"

Neji went mad. His originally cold face twisted into a savage expression, and his killing intent surged instantly.

"Die!"

He no longer cared about the examination rules. He charged directly at Hinata, who had already lost the ability to fight. That was a genuine killing blow!

"Not good!"

Guy, Kakashi, and the other Jonin in the stands moved at the same time.

But before them, a gaze had already coldly locked onto Neji.

In the corner, Ye Tian set down his thermos.

He lightly pressed a finger against the railing, leaving behind a deep fingerprint.

"Trying to kill a member of your own clan? With a temperament like that, you're beyond saving."

Although the Jonin stopped Neji in time and saved Hinata, in that instant, a strand of Ye Tian's Divine Sense had silently wrapped itself around Neji.

It was not an attack, but a mark.

A mark called "karma."

"Neji Hyuga..."

Ye Tian looked at the youth being pinned down by the teachers while still roaring. An almost imperceptible chill flashed through his eyes.

"I really don't like what you did today."

"Since you enjoy talking about fate so much, then when the main tournament arrives... I'll let you experience firsthand what true—inescapable 'heaven's will' means."

Ye Tian pulled a small notebook from his chest and solemnly wrote the name "Neji Hyuga" on the "People to Definitely Screw Over" list, after Orochimaru and Kabuto.

Then, as he watched Hinata being carried away by the Medical Corps, his gaze softened somewhat.

"Well done, silly girl."

"This battle has established your Dao Heart."

"As for the rest... leave it to your 'fellow patient' big brother."

As Hinata left the arena, the electronic screen began scrolling once more.

Yet the atmosphere inside the hall had become exceptionally stifling because of that battle. The argument over "fate" was like a seed planted within the heart of every young person present.

Of course, Ye Tian was the exception.

He was figuring out how to secretly learn the principles behind the Hyuga Clan's Eight Trigrams Palms Revolving Heaven and Gentle Fist during the main tournament, while giving that arrogant genius a little Cultivator-style shock.