Chapter 258: Eight Trigrams Vacuum Palm
"Dammit!"
Kidomaru nimbly evaded Neji's strike, tugging at the spider silk attached to his body. Suddenly, his pores secreted a yellowish metallic substance, forming golden arrows. Ignoring Neji for a moment, he used the silk to construct a bow and fired a shot toward Shikamaru's retreating group.
Whoosh!
Zip!
Just then, a kunai equipped with an explosive tag flew through the air, intercepting the golden arrow.
Boom!
The explosion sent the metallic arrow spiraling away. Kidomaru could only watch helplessly as Shikamaru and the others vanished into the forest. He turned his gaze, now filled with irritation, back toward Neji.
"Fine then. I'll deal with you first. Did you really think those brats stood a chance against Sakon and the others?"
Neji didn't respond. As Kidomaru spoke, Neji channeled chakra into his feet and began catapulting himself between the tree trunks, closing the distance.
Whoosh! Whoosh!
As he neared, Neji threw shuriken to seal off Kidomaru's evasion routes.
"Naive."
Dark markings began to spread across Kidomaru's face. He wasn't planning on wasting any more time. He had originally wanted to play with his "prey," but Neji's persistent interference was starting to grate on his nerves.
Pui—!
He spat a massive web intended to envelop Neji's entire path. He didn't even bother to move from his spot.
Clang! Clang!
Neji's shuriken struck Kidomaru's body, producing the sound of metal clashing against metal.
"Gentle Fist!"
Neji swung his hands, severing the chakra flow within the spider web to break through. Simultaneously, he noted the metallic clanking sound.
An ability to secrete some kind of metal throughout the body, Neji analyzed instantly.
This meant the Gentle Fist had to break through that external defense before it could sever the internal chakra pathways.
Whoosh! Bang! Clang clang clang!
The two engaged in a frantic melee. Kidomaru swung yellowish spears formed from his secretions, their weapons clashing with high-intensity impacts. Occasionally, Kidomaru would spit out white webs, but Neji's Gentle Fist style perfectly countered the chakra-infused silk.
"Peskly brat... countering my webbing. But he's a close-range fighter. As long as I watch out for his shuriken and explosive tags, I still control the rhythm of this hunt." Kidomaru was no weakling; he had already deduced the strengths and weaknesses of Neji's style.
Tonbo Tobitake's clone appeared in the periphery again, watching the intense battle. Seeing Neji finally utilizing basic ninja tools like shuriken and tags filled him with a sense of relief.
In the past, Tonbo had often wondered why every ninja—with the exception of specialized cases like Lee—didn't master the "Three Basic Jutsu" and basic tool mastery. Neji had relied far too heavily on the Byakugan. Carrying a few ninja tools doesn't hinder a ninja; it creates more tactical possibilities. For an average ninja, it significantly raises their combat ceiling.
Therefore, in Neji's battlefield simulation, Tonbo had specifically ramped up the difficulty by using basic tools and clones in unpredictable ways. According to Tonbo's logic: if Neji could achieve the same utility as tools and basic jutsu using only Gentle Fist, that was fine—but he couldn't.
Now, after "dying" a thousand times in the illusions, Neji had finally started acting like a proper ninja. Otherwise, he was just a "warrior," which wasn't very ninja-like at all.
Tiger Seal.
A thought crossed Tonbo's mind as he wove a sign to resonate with the nerves left inside the two combatants. He began harvesting their physical data. The Sound Four at full health were quite formidable—definitely stronger than in the original timeline. He wondered if Neji, after his "Thousand Ninja Slaying" training, could secure a win.
Neji was a true genius. In Tonbo's simulations, he was the fastest to improve among the Konoha 12, second only to Sasuke. Even Naruto couldn't match his rate of adaptation. Tonbo suspected that Neji had previously been so immersed in his "destiny" complex that he couldn't break out of his cage to develop his true potential. This Neji was undoubtedly leagues ahead of his original counterpart. This was going to be a fight worth watching.
After all, Guy's team had undergone Tonbo's simulation four separate times, whereas Choji's team had only gone through it once.
Whoosh! Whoosh!
"Shikamaru, can Neji really handle that guy?" Naruto asked, having sensed how dangerous the spider-man was.
Shikamaru replied firmly, "Don't worry. Have faith in him. Our goal is to bring Sasuke back."
He chose to believe in his teammates. He was confident that both Choji and Neji had made massive strides recently. Since the Orochimaru incident, everyone in the village had been training like possessed souls. Shikamaru also firmly believed that anyone who had survived the former Acting Hokage's training would be able to survive, if not win. Only a strategist like him truly understood how much help that specific training provided to a ninja.
"Heh, there are two left. I'll take them on next," Kiba said confidently. He had already addressed the weakness Naruto had exposed during the Chunin Exams. His nose had become even stronger—not just in sensitivity, but he had found a way to filter out foul odors. It reduced his overall sensitivity slightly, but his taijutsu was more than enough to compensate.
"Kiba, stay focused. Our goal is Sasuke, nothing else," Shikamaru cautioned as a leader.
"I know, I know!"
Bang! Boom! Thud!
In the forest, countless trees were blasted apart. A massive, yellowish arrow tore through a trunk and slammed into the ground, creating a crater.
"Why are you running? What happened to that spinning move of yours?"
Kidomaru had undergone a full transformation. Six arms protruded from his sides, each wielding a weapon. He tugged at the thread attached to the arrow, reeling it back. Neji, however, had vanished from his sight.
Kidomaru scanned the area, trying to locate him. He hadn't expected a close-quarters combatant to have such masterful stealth and aura-masking skills. The genius of the Hyuga clan was truly remarkable. In his mind, no ninja was a "jack of all trades" except for Lord Orochimaru. One could only be relatively balanced between melee and range. But he had to admit, this Byakugan kid had refined his stealth to a deep level.
"However... you are a ninja, and so am I!"
Kidomaru suddenly turned and aimed his bow at a spot just three meters away. "At this distance, no one can dodge my arrow!"
Whoosh!
The arrow's release triggered a sonic boom. A twisted smile spread across Kidomaru's face.
"Eight Trigrams: Vacuum Palm!"
Neji ignored the incoming arrow. Instead, he unleashed a Vacuum Palm—a technique designed to compensate for the Gentle Fist's lack of range. It struck Kidomaru squarely in his shocked face.
But Kidomaru thought he had won.
Poof!
Suddenly, the Neji hit by the arrow vanished in a puff of smoke.
"A Shadow Clone..."
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