"Neji, please be careful."
Hinata assumed the Hyuga Clan's Gentle Fist opening stance and instantly activated her Byakugan, veins bulging around her eyes.
Hinata's attitude thoroughly infuriated Neji.
"If you insist on being so stubborn, don't blame me for showing no mercy!"
Neji snorted coldly and activated his Byakugan as well, an immense amount of chakra surging out of his body.
He pushed off hard with both legs, shooting toward Hinata like an arrow loosed from a bow.
"Eight Trigrams Vacuum Palm!"
Neji thrust his palm through the air, sending a fierce chakra shock wave straight at Hinata's face.
Hinata's gaze sharpened. With a light tap of her foot against the ground, she dodged sideways with extraordinary agility.
Boom!
The Vacuum Palm struck the ground behind Hinata, blasting out a shallow crater and scattering fragments of stone.
She dodged it?
Neji was deeply surprised.
But he did not stop moving. He closed in immediately, his hands becoming afterimages.
"Gentle Fist Art: Eight Trigrams Sixty-Four Palms!"
Neji fully expected this combination to crush Hinata's defenses in one fell swoop.
But the instant he struck, Hinata actually assumed the exact same stance.
"Gentle Fist Art: Eight Trigrams Sixty-Four Palms!"
Hinata gave a sharp cry and charged straight into Neji's attack.
They struck in unison.
Thud! Thud!
Two palms!
Thud! Thud! Thud! Thud!
Four palms!
Eight palms!
Sixteen palms!
The entire arena was filled with their intersecting palm afterimages and the dull sounds of colliding chakra.
With every step and every palm strike, Hinata precisely matched Neji's movements.
The longer Neji fought, the more alarmed he grew, his heart filled with shock.
How is this possible? How can she keep up with my speed?!
Neji's once rock-solid conviction began to waver.
The talent he took such pride in gave him no advantage whatsoever against Hinata.
Rock Lee sucked in a sharp breath in the spectator stands.
"They're so fast! Hinata's actually fighting Neji on equal footing!"
Naruto shouted excitedly.
"Hinata! You can do it! Beat that stuck-up jerk!"
The instant Neji lost his composure, an opening appeared in his movements.
Now!
Hinata keenly seized the opportunity.
Her palm strikes shifted, her speed abruptly increasing as her chakra struck Neji's chakra points with precision.
"Thirty-two palms!"
"Sixty-four palms!"
With a fierce cry, Hinata delivered the final strike, highly concentrated chakra gathering in her palm as she slammed it toward Neji's chest.
Neji's expression changed in horror. He had no time to dodge.
At that moment of life and death, he instinctively unleashed the absolute defense secretly passed down within the Hyuga Main Family.
"Eight Trigrams Palms: Heavenly Spin!"
A massive amount of chakra erupted from Neji's body as he began spinning at high speed.
A hemispherical blue chakra shield instantly formed, blocking all of Hinata's attacks.
The violent rotational force even threatened to fling Hinata away.
Hyuga Hiashi abruptly rose to his feet in the second-floor spectator stands, disbelief covering his face.
Despite belonging to the Branch Family, Neji had actually mastered the Main Family's secret Rotation on his own!
But Neji had no idea.
With the terrifying perceptiveness of his Mangekyō Sharingan, Uchiha Xin had long since gained a thorough understanding of Rotation's principles.
Not only had he understood them completely, but he had also developed a method specifically to counter Rotation and personally taught it to Hinata in private.
Facing the rapidly spinning Rotation, Hinata did not retreat a single step.
She gave a sharp cry, and the chakra inside her instantly changed its circulation path.
"Eight Trigrams Palms: Heavenly Spin: Reverse!"
Hinata thrust both hands forward, slipping them precisely into the gaps in Rotation's chakra shield.
She released chakra that moved in the exact opposite direction to Rotation, tightly entangling Neji's chakra flow.
Sizzle! Sizzle! Sizzle!
The two opposing streams of chakra ground violently against each other, producing an ear-piercing roar.
"Stop!"
Hinata gritted her teeth and exerted her strength.
Crack!
The perfect cycle of Neji's Rotation was forcibly broken, and the shield collapsed instantly.
Neji suffered a powerful backlash from his Rotation being broken, as though lightning had struck his chest.
He flew backward uncontrollably and crashed heavily at the edge of the arena, vomiting blood.
The entire venue fell deathly silent.
All the genin, their jonin instructors, and even the chief examiner, Gekko Hayate, froze in place.
No one had expected the usually frail and introverted Hinata Hyuga to unleash such terrifying combat power.
After a brief silence, a wave of sharp gasps swept through the venue.
"My god! Am I seeing things? Neji actually got sent flying!"
"Wasn't that Rotation supposed to be an absolute defense? It got broken just like that?"
Kakashi and Kurenai Yuhi stood on the second floor, staring down at the arena in shock.
"That was Rotation, the Hyuga Clan's absolute defense."
Kurenai Yuhi sucked in a sharp breath, her voice trembling and her eyes filled with disbelief.
"Hinata actually broke through it head-on! When did she get so strong? This is nothing like her previous level!"
Kakashi knew just how formidable Rotation was.
As one of Konoha's elite jonin, he understood Rotation's principles and defensive power very well.
Breaking through Rotation head-on required extremely precise chakra control and a profound understanding of Gentle Fist.
After his brief surprise, his gaze involuntarily turned toward Uchiha Xin beside him.
Xin was leaning over the railing with a smug little smile. Everything was unfolding just as he had expected.
Kakashi remembered Xin loudly declaring in the Hokage's office a few days earlier that he wanted to marry Hinata.
Understanding immediately dawned on Kakashi, and a glint flashed through his eyes.
Hinata's strength has improved by leaps and bounds. She can even use a move that counters Rotation.
Kakashi silently marveled.
That brat Xin must have been teaching her in secret.
This kid's methods really are unfathomable. He can even work out a counter to the Hyuga Clan's secret techniques.
In the arena.
Neji crashed heavily to the ground, kicking up a cloud of dust.
He struggled to get up, but the intense pain in his chest made him cough up another mouthful of blood.
Although he could barely remain standing, his chakra pathways had suffered severe damage, and he had lost most of his fighting strength.
Neji stared fixedly at Hinata in the distance, his eyes filled with resentment and disbelief.
"I... how could I lose to a Main Family failure like you..."
Neji gritted his teeth, still wanting to fight.
Unexpectedly, as Hinata looked at Neji's miserable state, the resolve in her eyes gradually faded, replaced by a deep inability to bear seeing him suffer.
"Examiner, I surrender."
Hinata suddenly turned toward Gekko Hayate. Her voice was quiet but perfectly clear.
The entire venue erupted in an uproar once again.
Despite holding an overwhelming advantage, Hinata had actually surrendered of her own accord!
Hearing this from the second-floor spectator stands, Uchiha Xin shook his head helplessly.
He knew Hinata still felt indebted to Neji and believed the Main Family had wronged the Branch Family.
That silly girl is still so softhearted.
Xin muttered inwardly.
But looking at Hinata's kind, innocent expression, he found her even more utterly adorable.
Gekko Hayate froze for a moment, then announced Neji as the winner.