Ninjas have good physiques. In less than twenty seconds, Neji, who had taken a punch, was mostly fine, but he didn't get up.
Neji wasn't the type of person like Naruto who would just charge recklessly through everything.
He knew he couldn't beat Naruto; he could only buy time.
Naruto could more or less guess his Big Bro-in-law's thoughts, but he had a trump card to counter that.
Walking slowly towards Tenten, Naruto spoke as he walked: "If you don't get up, I'm going to hit her."
"Wuwuwu…" Tenten couldn't speak, her eyes signaling Neji to hurry and leave, to ignore her.
If this continues, you're really going to be beaten to death!
"Eight Trigrams: Air..."
Seeing his Big Bro-in-law make a move, Naruto clenched his left fist, his body seemingly transforming into a streak of light as he shot towards Neji, delivering another punch: "Pegasus Meteor Fist!"
The Byakugan's observation power was strong. Neji could see Naruto's movements—a straightforward punch. Unfortunately, his body, somewhat sluggish from being beaten, dragged him down. He could only retract his arm, hoping to block this attack.
Naruto gave him face by hitting his arm.
Even so, Neji couldn't bear the force. His breathing became erratic, his face flushed, and his body hunched, like a cooked shrimp, sliding backward.
"Swish..."
Naruto vanished, reappearing behind Neji.
He didn't attack, but instead activated a skill: "Strong Naruto Bind."
With his arm locked around Neji's neck, preventing him from breathing, Naruto lowered his voice: "Your teammate's life is in peril, yet you are powerless to stop it. Can you faintly understand how I felt back then?"
"Not only that, open your eyes and take a good look at her body. Is she already starting to feel sleepy?"
After all, this was cold medicine that made people sleepy, so a bit of drowsiness was perfectly reasonable.
"This poison will make people die in their sleep, painlessly. How about it, I'm not bad to her, am I...?"
Unlike his usual silent fighting style, he was talking a lot this time.
Big Bro-in-law, I've even followed the villain-dies-from-talking-too-much trope. Can't you just burst out with some power for me to see?
Even if you don't use the Eight Trigrams One Hundred Twenty-Eight Palms, at least show me an One Hit Body. I've even posed for you.
Sure enough, his Big Bro-in-law cooperated, holding his breath and channeling chakra into the pressure points on his back: "Gentle Fist Art: One Hit Body."
Feeling an anomaly from his Big Bro-in-law, Naruto slapped him on the back and used the force to retreat.
Knowing he was about to use that move and still getting hit by it would make him an idiot.
Neji did a front flip to disperse the force of the palm, then turned around and struck a standard Hyūga starting pose.
This person is really familiar with the Hyūga; he even knows this technique.
Naruto gave him no time, pressing the charge skill button, and in a flash, he was within a meter of Neji.
"Ora Ora Fist!"
"Rotation!" Neji decisively chose the most stable defensive method.
You motherf**ker, you're doing Rotation again! No wonder you can't burst out with power. You only know how to defend, not attack. How are you going to burst out?!
Exiting the range of the Rotation, Naruto considered for less than half a second before charging towards Tenten again.
If you defend, I'll hit Tenten. You decide what to do.
"Eight Trigrams: Air Palm."
A chakra orb flew from behind, and Naruto instinctively performed a Faker-style front roll.
Dodging the Air Palm, he circled back in front of Neji and tangled with him.
Neji didn't use Rotation this time. The previous Rotation was a probe, and the result was unsatisfactory. Naruto wouldn't give him a chance to stall with Rotation.
After a few more minutes of fighting, even with Naruto holding back, Neji was covered in bruises, mostly superficial wounds. Only a few heavier attacks landed around his stomach.
This was partly due to Naruto holding back, and partly due to his Big Bro-in-law's timely evasions.
Stomach bleeding was better than other organ damage.
His Big Bro-in-law was gasping heavily; being beaten was quite exhausting after all.
Naruto gave him time to regulate his breathing, then spoke: "Do you see? She can barely keep her eyes open now. The medicine is almost at its peak, maybe she won't even need that crossbow; she'll die right before your eyes first..."
"Do you see this small bottle? I can tell you, inside is the antidote."
Naruto felt so stifled he wanted to vomit blood. He truly had enough of being this kind of villain. He gave Neji time to recover, even told him there was an antidote, he was practically teaching him how to fight himself.
"Oh, and also, the arrow is also coated with poison. I don't know what will happen if these two poisons mix together..."
He glanced at his watch. "You have twelve minutes left..."
Feeling his Big Bro-in-law wasn't under enough pressure, Naruto added a little more.
As he spoke, he walked towards Neji, creating an opportunity for him.
To be a villain to this extent was truly unheard of.
Neji didn't know what Naruto was thinking, but Naruto had exposed such a huge weakness; he couldn't miss this golden opportunity: "Eight Trigrams: Sixty-Four Palms!"
Naruto: "..."
I took off my pants just for this?!
You're just going to hold onto that One Hundred Twenty-Eight Palms and never use it, huh?
Big Bro-in-law, your brother-in-law is very disappointed in you.
"Big Wood Big Wood Fist!"
A variation of the Ora Ora Fist, its attack style was exactly the same as the Ora Ora Fist: just punch.
Similarly, fists met palms, but Neji was slightly faster this time than before.
Naruto's heart swelled with joy. Sure enough, I wasn't hitting hard enough.
See, aren't you making progress now?
Neji had made progress, but not significantly. Naruto's strength was still superior.
Looking at Neji, who was kicked back and crashed into an old stone wall, Naruto praised him: "A decent fist technique, but unfortunately your speed is still a bit lacking. Otherwise, it would have been me collapsing."
Standard villain dialogue. Those who said such things usually ended up deader than dead, and the kind where no one even burned offerings for them after death.
Neji slowly stood up, leaning against the wall, his Byakugan unconsciously glancing towards Tenten.
At this moment, Tenten's eyes were barely open, watching Neji through a slit, her throat moving, but unable to make a sound...
"It must be painful to watch your teammate on the verge of death, isn't it? Is it more painful than physical wounds?"
As he spoke, Naruto almost instantly appeared in front of Neji, landing a punch on his chest, his expression so ferocious it looked like a change in art style. He roared, "But my pain is even greater than yours!"
Being a villain is too frustrating. Let me vent a bit.
It pains my heart even as I strike your body.
Don't you know how much it hurts me that you still haven't burst out?!
"Back then..."
To make his Big Bro-in-law burst out, this punch had extra weight, so Naruto started telling a story again to buy time for his Big Bro-in-law to recover.
He's really putting his heart into this.
"So I realized that in the ninja world, only strength truly matters. Without strength, there's only a dead end!"
Big Bro-in-law, without strength, you'll be killed!
In the sandy ground, Neji slowly walked back, one heavy step at a time. His consciousness was already blurry; he hadn't clearly heard what Naruto said.
He only remembered Naruto's previous remark in his mind: If only he were faster...
If only he were faster...
Mustering his last bit of chakra, Neji made a hand seal Naruto had never seen before: "Eight Trigrams..."
"Stop struggling pointlessly... What's the meaning of it?" Naruto was still acting.
Thanks to Fuka Koyuki, otherwise, a person whose acting skills were on par with Zhang Yining wouldn't be able to pull off so much drama.
"It doesn't matter," Neji's blood-stained lips curved slightly. He closed his eyes, then struck out with both palms, followed by four palms, eight palms...
At this moment, he let go of everything—Hyūga, pain, genius—he forgot it all. There was only one thought in his mind... faster...
Sixteen Palms.
Thirty-Two Palms.
Sixty-Four Palms.
But he didn't stop; he kept striking mechanically.
Naruto smiled. Big Bro-in-law, I knew you could do it!
During the last wave of attacks, he retreated out of Neji's attack range.
It was fortunate that Neji's attacks were only mechanical; otherwise, it wouldn't have been easy to retreat so casually.
The more palms used in the Eight Trigrams Palms, the stronger it became. Without revealing his full strength, Naruto wouldn't dare to take it head-on.
He retreated, but Naruto wasn't idle; he was counting how many palms his Big Bro-in-law had struck.
Ninety
One hundred
One hundred twenty
Naruto's expression remained unchanged, but he was smiling very happily internally.
Big Bro-in-law, I knew you could do it.
One hundred twenty-six...
"Thud."
Neji, reaching his physical limit, collapsed.
Waving his hand, Naruto turned to leave. His Big Bro-in-law had unleashed his potential; he was going to remove the crossbow from Tenten.
As for the two missing palms, he would just pretend not to have seen them.
But just as he was about to take a step, he found that Neji's hands had, at some point, grabbed his ankles.
The grip on his ankles was soft and weak, yet firm and unwavering.
Bending down to pry his hands open, Naruto's face held a smile.
You actually managed to strike those last two palms after all.
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