Neji

After being trained by Tahm, Hinata's first match began.

Her opponent was a child from the Hyuga branch family who was no weakling. Hinata had encountered him during previous clan sparring matches and had been easily defeated by him, but now they were crossing paths once again. However, this time, Hinata's state of mind had calmed down; she no longer felt the nervousness and anxiety she used to experience the moment she stepped onto the ring.

"Ha!" Unlike her previous style of purely passive defense, Hinata suddenly let out a shout, took the initiative to press forward, channeled chakra into her palms, and struck directly at her opponent's chest.

Sensing the change in Hinata, the opponent was slightly surprised, but he reacted instantly. He spread his feet slightly into a standard horse stance and, using the power from his waist, delivered a full-force palm strike to meet Hinata's incoming attack. Based on his previous understanding of Hinata's strength, he was confident he could neutralize her attack with a single palm and saw no need to dodge.

However, Hinata was no longer the Hinata of the past. When their palms met, a dull, thunderous sound exploded in the air. Our side character felt a tremendous force surge from Hinata's slender palms, causing him to lose his footing instantly.

"Ah!" With a scream, the damage from such a direct, full-force clash was immense. His arm hung limply at his side, likely nearing a fracture. Furthermore, the chakra Hinata had channeled into that palm—the unique chakra of the Hyuga Gentle Fist—ran rampant through the loser's meridians, throwing his own chakra circulation into complete disarray.

In the blink of an eye, the winner was decided!

Everyone looked at Hinata on the stage with incredulous eyes—in just one month, the main family's eldest daughter, who had been the laughingstock at the bottom of the rankings during the last spar, had actually defeated one of the top-ranked children in the clan tournament with a single move?

"His strategy was wrong. If he had dodged and then activated his Byakugan to fight using Gentle Fist, he couldn't have lost so quickly," a Hyuga jonin on the high platform commented.

"That may be true, but no one expected the power of Hinata's palm strikes to have changed so much. A failure in judgment is understandable; gathering intelligence is also a required course for a ninja," another watching jonin added.

Hyuga Hiashi, sitting in the main seat, remained silent, but his heart was already in turmoil: in less than a month, his daughter's strength had grown this much? Was that toad, Tahm, really so skilled at teaching Hinata? Could it be that everything I did before was wrong?

Yet, at this moment, Hinata was not thinking about what her real father was feeling. As soon as the match ended, she trotted over to Tahm, lifted her small head, and smiled, saying, "Tahm, I did it!" She looked exactly like an ordinary little girl running to her family to seek praise after earning an honor, rather than the elegant yet trembling, walking-on-thin-ice noble daughter she had been before meeting Tahm.

Tahm naturally stroked Hinata's hair and said, "I knew you wouldn't let me down!"

Not caring at all that her smooth hair was being ruffled into a mess, Hinata had long since grown fond of this affectionate gesture from Tahm, just like real family. She felt a sense of happiness she hadn't experienced in a long time welling up, as joyful as when she was two or three years old and being carried by her parents in a park, and she couldn't help but be mesmerized.

In the following matches, Hinata defeated her opponents one by one, sometimes easily and sometimes with tension, completely changing the impression the adults and children watching had of her. Whether it was her personality and attitude during the matches, her combat awareness, the force of her strikes, or her use of chakra, Hinata had improved significantly. Having undergone a complete transformation, she finally reached the final stage, standing at a height she had never reached before.

"Eldest Miss Hinata, I didn't expect you to be able to stand before me." Her opponent in the finals was a child slightly older than her, who looked somewhat similar to Hyuga Hiashi, with long, smooth, straight hair draped over his shoulders and a thick, intense fighting spirit filling his eyes.

"Neji-niisan..." Hinata's emotions underwent a distinct change.

It turned out her opponent in the finals was Hyuga Neji! The true genius ninja from the original story! Seeing this, Tahm, who was off the stage, had a bad premonition; he recalled the tragic scene of the Neji and Hinata match from the original story.

"Heh... the eldest daughter of the main family!" Neji sneered, "Although you've become a bit stronger, it is absolutely impossible for you to defeat me. The weak are the weak; this is the decision of fate!"

As soon as he finished speaking, Neji activated his Byakugan, his aura becoming even more piercing. Despite being only seven years old, he gave off a ruthless feeling.

Seeing this, Hinata had no time to think; she activated her Byakugan and assumed the starting stance of the Gentle Fist, preparing to fight.

A genius is a genius for a reason. Neji's application of the Byakugan and his familiarity with the Hyuga Gentle Fist were far beyond what Hinata could compare to. Within Neji's 360-degree Byakugan field of vision, every subtle movement of Hinata's was magnified, and he calculated the next changes in his mind instantly.

Heh! Too many openings. She's still that same eldest miss after all! Neji thought to himself, his hands and feet moving in sync. He closed in rapidly and struck with a palm that faintly carried the sound of wind and thunder.

Neji's tricky and sharp strike hit exactly where Hinata's defense was weakest, leaving her flustered and forcing her to subconsciously tighten her arms to take the blow head-on.

With a dull thud, Hinata was struck squarely by the palm, pushed back by a tremendous force, and stumbled several steps as she lost her footing. Her slender arms were instantly bruised and swollen from the blow, making it extremely difficult for her to exert any strength.

That's it! Neji pressed his advantage, striking out with both palms in a ruthless assault.

Must stay calm, I can't give up like this! Hinata thought to herself, forcing herself to react. She used a deflection technique from the Gentle Fist with her injured arm, causing Neji's attack to veer off course.

Although the angle was deflected, the strike still grazed Hinata's shoulder, causing her to cry out in pain, her delicate features twisted by the agony. This made Tahm, watching from the sidelines, clench his fists tightly.

With both arms and shoulders injured, Hinata was forced to stand in place, gasping for air, her entire body trembling uncontrollably.

"This is the end, Eldest Miss Hinata!" Neji threw out a cold remark, "No matter how much you struggle, you cannot escape fate! Admit defeat now, and you can suffer a little less."

"No... I can't! I promised Tahm, I can definitely do it!" Instead, Hinata's resolve was ignited, and she found strength from somewhere to assume a fighting stance once again.

"That toad?" Seeing Hinata's refusal to submit, a nameless anger rose in Neji, "The summoning beast of Mount Myoboku, the status of the main family—everything is yours! But that doesn't change the fate that you are weak! Get down!"

[Byakugan: Eight Trigrams Thirty-Two Palms]!

A mysterious domain instantly unfolded around Neji, enveloping Hinata and making her feel as if she were trapped in a quagmire, with her every opening seized by the enemy. This was the power of one of the secret techniques of the Hyuga Byakugan! At this age, only the genius Neji, as a child of the branch family, had managed to self-study and master it.

Hinata's defense instantly became laughable, crumbling the moment Neji launched his attack.

"One, two..." In the blink of an eye, several palms struck Hinata's body mercilessly. The immense force even lifted her petite body into the air, and the violent chakra invaded her limbs and bones, completely sealing off any possibility of struggle.

"Seven, eight, nine..." In just a few breaths, Hinata was covered in bruises, yet Neji showed no intention of stopping. The situation was so tragic that even Hyuga Hiashi, her real father, felt a pang of pain in his heart. However, the duties and dignity of the clan head constrained him from taking any action to terminate this match, which could already be described as bloody.

Under the rain of attacks, the pain-stricken Hinata only had time to see that high-and-mighty, indifferent face on the platform. Father, you are disappointed in me after all, right? I'm so useless. Now, I've let Tahm down too...