Neji's right palm had reached within three inches of Zuo Hao's chest. Chakra gathered in his palm; one more push would strike the pressure point at the center of Zuo Hao's chest.
But Zuo Hao suddenly vanished.
It wasn't the Body Flicker Technique.
It was pure speed.
He moved so fast that even Neji's Byakugan couldn't fully track him.
The next instant, Zuo Hao's voice came from behind him.
"You rely too much on your Byakugan."
Neji spun around and saw Zuo Hao standing five paces behind him, his hands still tucked in his pockets.
"The Byakugan's ability to see through things and over great distances is powerful. It lets you see your opponent's chakra flow and pressure points in battle."
"But because of that, you've made a habit of using it to predict your opponent's moves. You've neglected your most basic fighting instincts."
Neji's breath caught.
Zuo Hao was right.
The Hyuga Clan's Gentle Fist depended on the Byakugan. Without its ability to see through the body, the technique couldn't be used.
And for that very reason, Hyuga Clan members, Neji included, relied too heavily on what their Byakugan showed them.
"In a fight between shinobi, seeing more doesn't mean you'll win."
Zuo Hao raised a finger and pointed to his Sharingan.
"The Sharingan falls short of the Byakugan in some ways, but there are things I can see that you can't."
Neji pressed his lips into a thin line.
Then he dropped his Gentle Fist stance.
"You're right."
Neji's voice returned to its usual calm.
"I do rely too much on my Byakugan."
He paused, then took a stance Zuo Hao had never seen before.
It wasn't Gentle Fist.
It was an older, fiercer form of palm combat.
"But that doesn't mean I'll lose."
Eight Trigrams Palms: Heavenly Spin!
Neji began to spin. Chakra burst from all 361 pressure points across his body at once, forming a sphere of absolute defense.
This was no ordinary Rotation.
Neji pushed the speed of his chakra release to its limit. His Rotation spun at least thirty percent faster than it had during practice, and the chakra barrier grew almost solid, glowing faint blue beneath the moonlight.
Zuo Hao raised an eyebrow.
"Now that's interesting."
Neji spun faster and faster. The spherical chakra barrier expanded, sweeping up the surrounding stones and fallen leaves and grinding them to dust.
Then, in the middle of the Rotation, he stopped.
In that instant, all the rotational force and chakra compressed to the limit. The moment the spin ceased, Neji thrust his right palm toward Zuo Hao.
Eight Trigrams Vacuum Palm!
The compressed chakra became an invisible shock wave. It tore through the air toward Zuo Hao at a speed the eye could barely follow.
The strike was powerful enough to shatter an Earth Flow Wall three meters thick.
Zuo Hao didn't dodge. He didn't use Intangibility.
Instead, he formed Hand Seals.
"Fire Style: Majestic Destroyer Flame."
Three minutes later...
Neji knelt on one knee, still struggling to catch his breath. He looked up at Zuo Hao, his voice hoarse. "I lost... You really are strong."
Zuo Hao waved it off, a casual smile on his face. "Come on, don't make it sound so grim. You didn't lose to me. You lost to yourself."
Neji froze for a moment. His brow furrowed, confusion filling his eyes. "What do you mean?"
"Sit." Zuo Hao ignored the stones and fallen leaves and sat down cross-legged.
He patted the ground beside him, inviting Neji to sit too.
Neji hesitated, then sat cross-legged across from him.
"Your Rotation and Vacuum Palm were impressive," Zuo Hao said. He raised a finger and traced a circle in the air. "But did you notice that from the moment you started your Rotation to the moment you launched your Vacuum Palm, every move and every release of chakra followed the standard Gentle Fist pattern exactly?"
Neji frowned. "That's how Gentle Fist works. Every strike in the Eight Trigrams Palm has a set form and order. Rotation's chakra release must follow the sequence of all 361 pressure points. These are the Hyuga Clan's traditional techniques..."
"Stop."
Zuo Hao raised a hand, cutting him off.
"That's your problem."
Neji looked even more confused.
Zuo Hao studied him, then asked something that seemed completely unrelated. "Neji, what is the Byakugan to you?"
"The Byakugan?" Neji blinked, then answered, "The Hyuga Clan's Kekkei Genkai. It can see through the body's chakra pathway system and grants a 360-degree field of long-distance vision. It can..."
"I didn't ask for its definition." Zuo Hao cut him off again. His crimson Sharingan glimmered darkly in the moonlight. "I asked what the Byakugan is to you."
Neji fell silent.
What was the Byakugan to him?
It was the Kekkei Genkai he had been born with, the pride of the Hyuga Clan, and the tool that let him use Gentle Fist. It was also... the reason he had been branded with the Caged Bird Seal.
Because he was born into the branch family, he had the Byakugan.
Because he had the Byakugan, he was enslaved by the Main Family.
"Looks like you've figured it out." Zuo Hao's smile took on a knowing edge. "To you, the Byakugan is a shackle. It's the Main Family's excuse to control you, a brand you'll carry for the rest of your life. Right?"
Neji's breath caught.
He said nothing, but the sudden tightening of his fingers gave away his feelings.
"But have you ever considered this?" Zuo Hao lowered his voice, as though sharing a secret meant for Neji alone. "The Byakugan itself isn't the shackle."
"Your dependence on it is."
Neji's pupils contracted sharply.
Zuo Hao gave him no time to absorb that before continuing.
"The Hyuga Clan's Gentle Fist is built around the Byakugan. Without the ability to see through the body, you can't see an opponent's chakra pathways or pressure points, so you can't use Gentle Fist to seal their chakra."
"So from birth, every member of the Hyuga Clan is taught the same thing: the Byakugan is the foundation of Gentle Fist, Gentle Fist is the foundation of the Hyuga Clan, and without the Byakugan, you're nothing."
"But is that really true?"
Zuo Hao rose suddenly and looked down at Neji.
Moonlight shone from behind him, casting his shadow over Neji like a blade cleaving the night.
"Neji, answer me. If one day your Byakugan were sealed and you couldn't use Gentle Fist, could you still fight?"
Neji pressed his lips into a thin line.
He couldn't answer.
No one had ever taught him how to fight without the Byakugan.
"You can't answer because you've never considered it." Zuo Hao's tone stayed lazy. "The Hyuga Clan's training has locked your thinking into place."
"The farther your Byakugan can see, the narrower your thinking becomes. The better you master Gentle Fist, the more limited your way of fighting becomes."
"Your Eight Trigrams Palm and Rotation were flawless, every move as precise as a textbook."
"But because they were so perfect, I could see right through them."
Zuo Hao pointed at his Sharingan. "My Sharingan can't see as far as the Byakugan. No matter how powerful the Three Tomoe becomes, it can't see through the body to its chakra pathways or see the chakra flowing inside you."
"But I knew where your next punch would land. I knew when your Rotation would leave an opening."
"Not because I saw it."
"Because you only attack by the book."
Neji's breathing lost all rhythm.
He opened his mouth. He wanted to argue, to defend himself, to tell himself this Uchiha Clan member was talking nonsense.
But no words came.
Every word Zuo Hao had said had struck home.
He really had been attacking by the book.
The forms of Gentle Fist. Rotation's standard opening stance. The fixed sequence of the Eight Trigrams Palm's combinations, from two strikes all the way to the Eight Trigrams Sixty-Four Palms.
Every movement had to be exact.
The Hyuga Clan demanded perfection in Gentle Fist.
But perfection itself was the greatest flaw.
"A true master shouldn't be defined by a Kekkei Genkai, much less bound by tradition and prescribed forms."
Zuo Hao sat back down and rested his clasped hands on his knees. There was a seriousness in his smile that Neji had never seen before.
"The Byakugan gave you eyes that can see through everything, but you still have to use your own mind to judge what you see."
"Gentle Fist gave you techniques to seal pressure points and defeat enemies, but techniques are fixed. People aren't."
"The Main Family branded you with the Caged Bird Seal, but they can't brand your heart."
"Unless you choose to be the bird in that cage."
Neji's body jolted at those last words.
Turmoil surged through his pale eyes. Moonlight caught in them, reflecting a light that looked close to breaking.
A bird in a cage might still fly free.
Zuo Hao had said that before. Neji had thought he understood.
Only now did he realize he hadn't understood at all.
Before you continue