"Huh. Neji, why's your face so red?"
"Don't tell me you're shy?"
Noticing the flush on the boy in his arms, Kai raised a brow, genuinely surprised.
In the original story, Neji was a cold, proud, tight-lipped genius—at least early on.
Even if he was tsundere deep down, he shouldn't be blushing this easily.
Then Kai realized.
This wasn't shyness at all—
It was pure rage.
"Shut. Your. Mouth!"
Neji roared, his small face turning completely red-hot.
He didn't like Hinata.
And he definitely didn't like touchy men.
The moment the words fell, he struck—
Gentle Fist!
Smack!
A palm landed cleanly, and Neji snapped back out of range.
"Oh," Kai said, dusting off his sleeve like nothing happened.
"Angry and embarrassed. Classic."
That Gentle Fist hit didn't even break his defense.
"…N-no effect?"
Neji froze.
He had deliberately aimed at a joint along Kai's chakra pathway!
Forget kids—if an adult took that hit, they'd be uncomfortable for quite a while.
His expression tightened.
Veins instantly rose around his temples, spiderwebbing outward.
Byakugan.
The next instant, his gaze locked onto Kai like a flare—
And then Neji's raised hand stopped midair.
"H-how is that possible?!"
In his vision, the Kai standing five meters away had chakra that was perfectly unified—smooth, complete, without a single flaw.
That level of "one-with-itself" chakra…
Was something only a jōnin who'd trained for years could possibly achieve!
"No… am I seeing things?"
Confused, Neji instinctively glanced toward the clan head.
Then stiffened harder.
"No—Lord Hiashi's chakra is like that too…"
"How can Uchiha Kai possibly be at the same level as the clan head?!"
His mind blanked.
Both hands hung in midair, still in a Gentle Fist stance—
But he didn't know how to attack.
Chakra that refined couldn't be pierced by his current Gentle Fist.
Forget disrupting chakra flow.
So…
Did he have no choice but to use that?
After a brief hesitation, Neji closed his eyes and took a deep breath.
The small tie of brown hair at the side of his head swayed slightly.
Chakra thickened between his palms.
"This is…"
"It looks like… Gentle Fist Art: Eight Trigrams Palm…"
Not far away, Hiashi and the elder widened their eyes again at the unmistakable opening stance.
They exchanged a look—stunned.
This was a style only the main house was supposed to possess.
Since when could the branch family use it?
"No one taught him…"
Hiashi's eyes flickered.
"Did he… comprehend it on his own?"
He wasn't angry about a branch member learning a main-house art.
If anything, he looked surprised—almost pleased.
Watching the small Neji, Hiashi could see traces of Hizashi in his brow and features.
Then his gaze drifted to his own timid eldest daughter.
For a long moment, Hiashi fell silent.
"…Perhaps Hinata truly isn't suited to inherit the main house."
"If Hanabi takes over, then Hinata…"
Slowly, his eyes returned to Kai.
A sharp gleam swirled in them.
No one could tell what he was thinking.
In the courtyard, Neji's body shifted into a different state.
Chakra churned in his palms.
His Byakugan opened fully, veins bulging thick around his eyes.
His gaze pierced through Kai's body, pinpointing the sixty-four chakra points across him.
"So what if your chakra is perfect?"
Neji muttered, voice low and fierce.
"As long as I strike the same point repeatedly, it will work eventually!"
Then he barked—
"Gentle Fist Art—Eight Trigrams: Sixty-Four Palms!"
In the next heartbeat, his hands became afterimages.
Pap! Pap!
The sound of palm strikes fell like raindrops.
The first two palms slammed toward Kai's collarbone, aiming to cut off chakra flow to the arms!
Pap pap pap!
Four more palms hammered into the chest!
If the lung meridians were disrupted, breathing itself became a luxury.
And that was only the beginning.
As Neji spun faster, his strike speed exploded.
Eight palms!
Sixteen palms!
Thirty-two palms!
His small hands poured down like a storm, pounding the exact same spot on Kai's back again and again.
One strike not enough? Two.
Two not enough? Four.
Neji believed that under relentless high-frequency pressure, even an adult shinobi would break.
Then—
The sixty-fourth palm landed.
The chakra concentrated at his fingertips erupted into a shockwave.
BOOM!
Cracks spiderwebbed across the courtyard ground from the palm wind.
Dust blasted upward in a thick cloud, swallowing everyone's view.
"D-did it work…?"
Neji panted, eyes fixed on the drifting smoke.
Unlike Neji's tense focus, the Hyuga youths lying around were practically vibrating with excitement.
"Sixty-Four Palms?! Neji actually learned it in secret!"
"Yes! He hit everything!"
"Hmph! I've wanted to beat this Uchiha brat forever!"
"Kai…"
Only Hinata looked worried, staring into the dust.
She wanted to step forward, but didn't know what to say…
One second.
Two.
Three.
Then, the smoke thinned.
A clear, handsome face emerged.
"Tss," Kai said, rolling his shoulders.
"Neji, it's a tragedy you didn't become a massage therapist."
He stretched his neck and back, joints popping with crisp crackles.
So good.
After that combo, forget joint pain—
Even chronic shoulder stiffness from sleeping in one position felt like it got fixed.
Comfortable. Way too comfortable.
Kai yawned and glanced at the "conversation failed" prompt.
No more wasting time.
He raised his palm toward Neji and smiled.
"Eight Trigrams… Air Palm."
BOOM!
A compressed air blast shot out like a cannonball.
With Byakugan active, Neji saw the "air shell" clearly.
He even tried to dodge—
But the moment he moved, a brutal force slammed into his abdomen.
His body flew.
High.
Then crashed down hard.
BAM!
Dust rose again.
This time, every Hyuga youth went silent.
Not just quiet—
Dead silent.
Even the densest among them could tell what had just happened.
Gulp.
Gulp.
Only the sound of swallowing remained in the courtyard.
"Hm?" Kai chuckled, turning to sweep his gaze across them.
"You guys still want to try?"
He wasn't tall. His voice wasn't loud.
But the moment he spoke, not a single boy dared meet his eyes.
They all lowered their heads.
Faces slowly turning red—
This time from anger and shame.
Seeing that, Kai nodded in satisfaction.
Then he beckoned at Hinata.
"Come here."
"Ah…"
Hinata, still daydreaming, jolted.
The joy on her face hadn't even faded before Kai tugged her over.
Step step step.
He pulled little Hinata up beside Neji, then bent down, leaning close.
Three tomoe spun in Kai's eyes, shining with an eerie crimson glow.
"Neji," Kai said softly.
"she's your little sister."
With that, he patted Hinata's hand, straightened up, and walked away.
Calm. Casual. Unbothered.
As if the entire courtyard of defeated Hyuga boys behind him didn't exist.
Only when he reached the gate and saw the prompt in front of him did he finally lose control.
He shoved his right hand into his hairline, bent forward, and clutched his forehead—
Then burst into wild laughter.
"Hahahaha!"
In the echo of that laughter, he looked back at the red-faced Hyuga youths and murmured,
"Next week…"
"I'll be back."
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