Chapter 284: Contest of Power and Speed
"Finally here."
Neji's heart stirred. His body shot upward like a cloud-piercing arrow, soaring straight into the skies.
Susanoo's pair of giant palms rapidly grabbed continuously in midair, even creating sonic booms in the air.
But Neji's body turned freely in midair, agilely avoiding all capture attempts.
"Clumsy big chunks can only bully weaklings. Facing flexible opponents of the same level, they can only be toyed with!"
Neji hovered beneath the bright moon, brazenly mocking the attacking Itachi.
"Is that so?"
Facing Neji's provocation, Itachi remained expressionless, merely glaring with his eyes. The Mangekyō in his right eye rotated.
"Tsukuyomi!"
Neji's body stiffened, immediately falling from midair.
His rapid strength advancement had freed Neji's mental shackles while also making him excessively arrogant.
When superpower proves sufficiently strong, the super brain begins slacking.
Encountering any problem, the priority solution becomes "quickly use superpower."
When Yasushi first obtained Mangekyō years ago, he was the same—repeatedly suffering setbacks.
Since everything ultimately gets reversed with Mangekyō and Susanoo anyway, why not be reckless?
In the genjutsu space, when Neji discovered colors around him beginning to fade, he immediately realized this. Immediately feeling both shame and fury.
With a thought, tremendous dojutsu power erupted from that pair of brilliant "Tenseigan."
"Lord Yasushi said all ninjutsu's essence is chakra!"
"Let's see whose dojutsu chakra is stronger—yours or my Tenseigan chakra!"
Neji roared, pouring all chakra into both eyes, forcefully clashing with Itachi's dojutsu power.
Instantly, the black-and-white genjutsu space shattered. Green chakra lightning struck the space, pulverizing the cross binding Neji and freeing him.
Neji's descending body paused. Flames of fury shot from both eyes.
"Damn it! Nearly capsized in the gutter! How shameful!"
Fury burned wildly in Neji's heart. Raising both hands, chakra orbs rapidly condensed before him.
Meanwhile, opposite Itachi raised his shield left-handed while slashing down overhead with his right-hand longsword.
That massive tachi resembled a heavy panel, descending through the air carrying tremendous wind pressure.
Before the blade arrived, momentum reached first.
The fierce winds it raised made the chakra coating on Neji's body snap loudly.
The dust on the ground beneath Neji's feet, suppressed by this wind pressure, fled outward in all directions from this center point.
"Hehe."
Neji laughed coldly. His figure proved as agile as a swimming fish. Dodging left and right, he escaped the giant sword's lock.
The giant sword heavily slammed into the earth. One strike created a massive trench.
Violent shockwaves rushed straight out along the trench's direction, severing all buildings along the way in half.
"Hahahaha..."
Neji's body rapidly climbed, spiraling around Susanoo's massive energy body while laughing loudly.
Itachi manipulated Susanoo to slash repeatedly. But Neji proved like an agile monkey, dodging around Susanoo. Making all Susanoo's attacks miss completely—not only failing to harm Neji but continuously causing massive collateral damage to the village.
"Itachi, wasn't I clear enough earlier?"
"Your clumsy big chunk is completely countered by my agility!"
"Relying solely on Susanoo, you'll never hit me!"
Accompanying Neji's wild laughter, chakra orbs rained down upon Susanoo's massive body.
Boom boom boom boom
Green flame flowers bloomed across Susanoo's surface.
These chakra orbs possessed tremendous power. Under successive explosions, cracks gradually appeared on Susanoo's energy armor.
Itachi unhurriedly raised the shield in his left hand before him, blocking explosions outside.
When he moved the shield away again, the cracks Neji had painstakingly blasted into Susanoo had completely vanished.
"Hmph, I can't hit you, but you can't break through me either." Itachi retorted sarcastically.
"Why would I need to break through you?"
A strange smile suddenly appeared on Neji's face.
His body suddenly withdrew, charging toward a Hyuga Main House member instead.
"Now I'm attacking and you're defending. Understand the situation clearly, Itachi!"
Now that Main House member panicked. He immediately turned and ran while loudly shouting.
"Quick, stop him! He's coming!"
Seeing new chakra orbs forming in Neji's hands, Itachi knew he had no choice. He could only clap both hands together.
"Wood Release: Advent of a World of Trees!"
Under Susanoo's amplification, the Wood Release forest erupting this time proved unprecedentedly massive—nearly enveloping all of Konoha Village.
However, under Itachi's control, these giant tree vines at most plowed through Konoha Village once, destroying the village's recently repaired infrastructure again, without harming anyone.
Of course, Itachi's purpose definitely wasn't village greening or destruction, but protecting village comrades.
Under Itachi's control, all trees grew inward, twisting together to form a towering giant tree.
No matter how high Neji flew, Itachi felt confident making this giant tree charge to the same height.
As for this giant tree's hardness—just looking at its exaggerated width revealed that cutting it down wouldn't prove so easy.
"Golden Wheel Reincarnation Explosion!"
Neji shouted sharply. The golden sword light in his hands blazed intensely, shooting skyward. Then gripping with both hands, he slashed horizontally at waist level.
Boom!
The golden light sword and super giant tree collided. Golden sparks and tree sap flew everywhere as they deadlocked together.
"Haaah!"
Both simultaneously roared. Veins bulging across their bodies, entire frames tensed tightly. They squeezed out all chakra from their bodies for this desperate struggle.
After deadlocking momentarily, the sharp golden light sword finally cut bit by bit into the super giant tree's interior—increasingly fast—ultimately penetrating completely through, severing this super giant tree in half at the waist.
But this giant tree didn't tilt and fall. It remained standing as before, even continuing to wave thick vines coiling toward Neji.
The originally severed location had long since fused back together.
This super giant tree possessed excessively powerful vitality. It could only be severed in one stroke. Otherwise, after deadlocking even briefly, those cut wounds would completely heal.
In this clash round, seemingly both proved evenly matched. But actually, compared to Itachi, Neji seemed already slightly inferior.
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