"Your body techniques are stronger than the rumors suggest," Neji said, raising his palm and slanting it to chop at Ino's ankle.
"Thanks for the compliment."
Ino had been sparring with Tenten and Hinata regularly, so she was quite familiar with the Hyuga Clan's techniques. She quickly adjusted her stance, switching from a side kick to a sweeping leg strike. With a light shout, she delivered a powerful whip kick.
While women generally have less upper body strength than men, their legs are often just as strong. In the blink of an eye, her whip kick collided with Neji's palm, and both of them were jolted by the impact.
Ino's current stats were Body 4, Strength 3, and Speed 6. Only her speed was on par with Neji's, while the other two attributes lagged significantly.
As long as she could create distance, victory would be hers.
Using the recoil from the impact, she performed a backflip. Before even landing, she hurled two shuriken, two kunai, and four senbon laced with anesthetic.
Neji didn't dodge or evade. Instead, he moved his palms up and down, deflecting all the ninja tools with ease.
"Now's my chance!" The distance between them had widened to six meters, and Ino had finally gauged Neji's speed. She seized the opportunity to perform a ninja technique, quickly forming hand seals and unleashing a barrage of chakra-infused projectiles in a fan-shaped area ahead.
"Wind Release: Vacuum Sphere!"
Facing this swift and deadly Wind Release Ninjutsu, Neji positioned his left leg forward and his right leg back, twisting his torso and swinging his arms. Using his Byakugan, he pinpointed the trajectory of the chakra projectiles. Then, his body began to spin rapidly, his palms continuously blocking, slapping, and deflecting the attacks. A swirling barrier of chakra surrounded him, deflecting all the wind-based assaults.
This was the Hyuga Clan's closely guarded secret, a technique he had independently mastered through his understanding of the Eight Trigrams Palm: Eight Trigrams Palms Revolving Heaven!
"Clang! Clang! Clang!" The wind-infused chakra collided with his palms, producing a series of metallic clinks. Even Hayate Gekko, the referee, had to step back to avoid the chaos.
Occasionally, deflected projectiles struck the surrounding walls, leaving conspicuous craters.
Taking advantage of Neji's focus on defending against the Vacuum Sphere, Ino once again created distance. Now, they were eight meters apart.
"Eight Trigrams Vacuum Palm!" Seeing Ino still retreating, Neji immediately gathered chakra and struck out with a palm thrust toward her side. The air compressed at high speed, launching forward like a cannonball.
Ino's retreat path was anticipated, and she had no choice but to dodge sideways to avoid the Eight Trigrams Vacuum Palm. The distance between them narrowed back to seven meters. In the blink of an eye, they had exchanged over a dozen moves. Ino wanted to create distance, while Neji was determined to close the gap.
"Watch out, these are poisoned kunai!" Ino raised her hand and threw three kunai. One was pitch black, emitting a nauseating stench, while the other two had exploding tags tied to their handles.
Neji didn't dare to block them head-on. He sidestepped and retreated to the side, instantly widening the gap between them to ten meters.
Amid the explosions of the exploding tags, Ino declared confidently, "You lose, Neji."
The moment she created distance, she brought her index and middle fingers together, crossing her hands to form the "Ren" seal. With a shout from Naruto in the distance, she activated the Shadow Clone Technique.
Once again, she adopted the standard team formation: one main body and two shadow clones.
Neji Hyuga quickly activated his Byakugan to observe. The Shadow Clone Technique evenly distributed the user's Chakra, and in his Byakugan's vision, the Chakra, Chakra pathways, and Chakra points of the three Inos were identical, making it impossible to distinguish the real one at a glance.
Ino, on the other hand, didn't care what he thought. They had already tested each other's Body techniques, and now it was time for a straightforward and brutal barrage of Ninja techniques.
No need for fancy moves like Vapor Explosion or combined Ninja techniques. Conventional techniques were enough to deal with Neji. "Water Release: Water Severing Wave!"
"Wind Release: Vacuum Sphere!"
"Earth Release: Earth Flow Spears!"
In one breath, she unleashed three B-rank Ninja techniques, all of Jonin-level difficulty, especially the Water Severing Wave, which was her specialty.
Sharp stone spears erupted from the ground, Vacuum Spheres densely covered a 120-degree fan-shaped area, and the Water Severing Wave shot out a dazzling silver line of water.
Neji had no choice but to use Eight Trigrams: Rotation again, releasing all his Chakra to defend.
Ino smirked confidently. Just defending without counterattacking? A battle of Chakra? Aside from Naruto and Gaara, she feared no one among the Genin.
The defensive power of Eight Trigrams: Rotation was indeed formidable, and Neji wasn't just standing there taking the hits. He moved within the Eight Trigrams formation, using the Byakugan's ability to observe the direction of the attacks, constantly shifting forward, backward, left, and right. Most of the Earth Spears were dodged with his precise footwork, and the Vacuum Spheres were deflected one by one. However, the Water Severing Wave was unstoppable. Neji tried to redirect its attack from the side, but the technique still sliced through the defensive barrier of Eight Trigrams: Rotation, leaving a deep gash on his elbow.
"Eight Trigrams Mountain Crusher!" He shot forward like an arrow, his bleeding elbow striking the Ino who had used the Water Severing Wave.
"Poof!" The Shadow Clone vanished into white smoke. He had misjudged.
As he assumed the Gentle Fist stance and turned around, Ino had once again formed a trio of clones.
"Water Release: Water Dragon Bullet!"
"Earth Release: Earth Dragon Bullet!"
"Wind Release: Great Breakthrough!"
Ino relied on her proficient Ninja techniques and abundant Chakra to unleash a relentless barrage of attacks—wind blades, earth spears, and water arrows—without pause. She had firmly taken control of the rhythm of the match.
Neji gritted his teeth and held his ground, countering each move with Eight Trigrams: Rotation. No matter what Ninja techniques you use, I'll just counter with this one move! Twice, he managed to get within five meters of Ino, but his attacks landed on Shadow Clones, wasting his opportunities.
Shikamaru, Sasuke, and Naruto all put themselves in Neji's position, each silently pondering how they would defend against Ino's overwhelming Ninja techniques if they were in his place.
Sakura watched the match nervously, while Tenten's expression was complex, not supporting either side. Rock Lee, however, was fired up, continuously cheering for Neji, making him the only Genin rooting for Neji.
As for the referee, Hayate Gekko, he was already retreating, step by step, until he was completely outside the arena. The sheer number and density of water arrows and wind blades were overwhelming. A battle of this level didn't even need a referee! His life was already tough enough; he didn't want to sacrifice himself over a "Genin" match.
Neji Hyuga's Rotation couldn't be stopped. His Byakugan eyes were fixed intently on Ino's hand seals, and he continuously tried to close the distance, occasionally mixing in his Eight Trigrams Air Palm. However, his long-range attack methods were still too limited.
Ino had rigorously trained in Body techniques. While they were considered a weaker aspect compared to her Ninja techniques, they weren't too far behind. On the other hand, Neji's ability to handle long-range attacks, or rather his ability to face powerful Ninja techniques, was severely lacking.
He remained calm, and up to this point in the battle, he hadn't made any mistakes. Even a Jonin wouldn't have handled the overwhelming barrage of B-rank Ninja techniques any better than he did. Yet, his disadvantage was becoming increasingly apparent.