"First match: Uzumaki Naruto VS Hyuga Neji... Begin!"
Whoosh!
As soon as the referee gave the command, Neji stepped forward, shooting out like an arrow from a bow.
His Gentle Fist, carrying sharp wind pressure, aimed straight for Naruto's pressure points.
There was none of the probing attacks the audience had expected.
Almost the instant it began, the two figures collided.
Bang, bang, bang!
The dull thuds of clashing fists and feet were as dense as heavy rain.
What surprised all the spectators, especially Hyuga Hiashi, was that facing Neji—who possessed the Byakugan and Gentle Fist—Uzumaki Naruto didn't pull back to use ninjutsu.
Instead, he chose to clash head-on with taijutsu!
"Foolish..."
Neji snorted coldly, his Byakugan locked firmly onto Naruto's meridian system.
"Daring to challenge the Hyuga Clan in taijutsu... you're seeking your own death."
However, after dozens of rounds, cold sweat began to bead on Neji's forehead.
So heavy!
Every punch and kick from Naruto was devoid of any flashy tricks.
It was pure suppression through raw power.
Most crucially, Naruto seemed able to predict his movements.
Every attempt to strike a pressure point was avoided by a hair's breadth.
Or, Neji was forced back onto the defensive by an even more aggressive attack.
"If your ability is only at this level..."
Naruto blocked Neji's palm strike with one hand, his gaze as calm as water.
"It's no wonder you constantly complain about fate."
"Shut up!"
A flash of ferocity crossed the provoked Neji's eyes.
He keenly captured a momentary opening on Naruto's left side.
Now!
The Eight Trigrams field beneath Neji's feet instantly expanded, and his aura shifted abruptly.
"Gentle Fist Art: Eight Trigrams Sixty-Four Palms!"
In an instant, that confidence of being in total control returned to his face.
"Two palms!"
"Four palms!"
"Eight palms!"
Neji's hands turned into afterimages, his fingertips spitting chakra like a torrential downpour.
Yet, Naruto didn't seem to dodge Neji's attacks.
His body was like a wooden post, letting Neji's fingers ruthlessly strike the pressure points all over his body.
Bang, bang, bang, bang!
In the stands, seeing this, Hyuga Hiashi's furrowed brows relaxed.
He leaned back into his chair and let out a cold snort.
"It's over."
"Once hit by the Sixty-Four Palms, no one can stand back up."
This was the confidence brought to him by the foundation of the Hyuga Clan.
As the final heavy blow landed on Naruto's chest...
"Sixty-Four Palms!"
Neji withdrew his stance, exhaled, and stepped back elegantly.
Naruto staggered back, his body swaying twice before he dropped to one knee.
Looking at Naruto, whose internal chakra was now completely sealed, Neji deactivated his Byakugan.
"Do you see? This is reality."
"No matter how strong you appeared just now, before me, you are still powerless to fight back."
"All sixty-four of your chakra points have been sealed by me."
"Now, you probably don't even have the strength to stand up."
Neji turned around to look at Shiranui Genma, preparing to accept the victory that belonged to him.
"Referee, it's over."
"No matter how hard a commoner struggles, they cannot cross..."
Crack.
The crisp sound of bones snapping back into place interrupted Neji's speech.
Neji whipped his head back, his pupils shrinking violently.
He saw Naruto, who had been kneeling, slowly rising to his feet.
He cracked his neck, producing a series of popping sounds.
Then, he lightly patted the spots where he had just been hit.
"So this is the Gentle Fist? The power is decent."
Naruto pushed up his glasses, his tone outrageously flat.
"Senior Neji, the Gentle Fist indeed has good control effects against ordinary people."
"But..."
"I don't fall into the category of ordinary people."
Before his voice had even faded...
A visible, majestic surge of chakra erupted from Naruto's body like a flood!
It wasn't that hatred-filled chakra of the Nine-Tails.
It was the immense life force of the Uzumaki Clan, the spiritual energy provided by Uchiha Sasuke, mixed with natural energy purified by the Cursed Seal—all combined into one chakra.
The pressure point seal Neji was so proud of was forcibly crushed before this absolute torrent of chakra.
"How is this possible!"
Neji's pupils contracted sharply.
In his X-ray vision, the chakra he had used to seal the points offered almost no resistance.
Even the meridian damage caused by his Gentle Fist was healing at a visible rate.
In just a moment, not a single scar remained.
In the stands, the previously indifferent Hyuga Hiashi suddenly crushed the armrest in his hand.
He stood up abruptly, his expression losing its composure.
"How can this be! To break through the Gentle Fist's seal simply by relying on the sheer volume of chakra..."
"Is this... the Nine-Tails jinchūriki?"
Not just Hyuga Hiashi, but even jōnin like Kakashi and Asuma, and even the Third Hokage sitting in the main seat, all showed looks of shock.
The Gentle Fist, the pride of the Hyuga Clan, had been broken so easily.
No, it couldn't be called easy.
Even if one knew the method, not everyone possessed Naruto's chakra and constitution.
In the arena, Naruto rolled his wrist and looked at Neji, who was questioning his very existence, with a slight upturn of his lips.
"Since you like sealing other people's power..."
"Coincidentally, I also happen to know a bit about sealing techniques. I hope Senior Neji will critique it."
Whoosh.
Naruto's figure vanished instantly.
Pure physical speed.
Neji was pale with shock and tried to use Rotation, but he was still a step too slow.
A hand had already bypassed his defense.
Five fingertips, burning with deep blue chakra, pressed heavily against Neji's abdomen.
"Five Elements Seal!"
Unlike the blocking of individual points, the sealing technique directly interfered with the condensation of chakra as a whole.
Neji felt a sharp pain in his abdomen, and then the flow of chakra within his body instantly became a chaotic mess.
"Arghhh!"
Neji screamed, his legs giving out as he knelt powerlessly before Naruto.
The winner had been decided.
Naruto looked down at Neji, who was kneeling before him, drenched in cold sweat.
He didn't continue the attack, but said calmly:
"In the face of absolute power, those theories of yours... are not worth mentioning."
The entire stadium was deathly silent.
One second, two seconds.
Then, Shiranui Genma took a deep breath, snapped out of his shock, and raised his hand.
"The winner, Uzumaki Naruto!"
Whoosh—!
Cheers erupted.
The nobles clapped excitedly, cheering for this brilliant reversal.
The commoners shouted the name of the genius.
In their eyes, this was just a wonderful underdog victory.
But Naruto ignored the noise.
He stood in the center of the arena, not leaving, nor enjoying the joy of victory.
He slowly raised his head, glancing at a certain 'Anbu' on the stage and the 'Kazekage' at the highest point.
A smile slowly curled on Naruto's lips.
"Cheer, cheer to your heart's content."
"Because I am about to bring you... a brand new world."
And so, amidst the crowd's cheers and the Third Hokage's gratified gaze, he slowly raised his hand and made a grasping motion toward the sky.
At first, no one understood what Naruto meant.
Until a few seconds later, the cheering crowd suddenly felt their eyelids grow heavy.
In the sky, several pure white feathers suddenly drifted down slowly.
Naruto looked at Neji on the ground and left his final words of the old era.
"Neji, watch closely."
"How to defy fate... I will only demonstrate this once!"
Boom!
In the distance, a massive explosion echoed from the walls of Konoha.
Operation: Konoha Crush has begun.
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