Chapter 204: Hinata vs. Neji
In the center of the Hyūga clan's main training ground, Hyūga Neji had been waiting for a long time.
He stood perfectly still, his arms crossed, his expression a mask of cold arrogance and impatience.
Seeing Hinata slowly approaching under the personal guidance of the Godaime Hokage, Uchiha Akira, Hyūga Neji spoke. His voice was not loud, but it cut across the silent dōjō.
"I thought you wouldn't dare to come, Lady Hinata."
The surrounding Hyūga clansmen, gathered to watch this... spectacle... immediately began to whisper.
"Lady Hinata… is she really going to fight Neji-sama?"
"Isn't this just asking for humiliation? Her strength… we all know it."
"Shh! Keep your voice down! Didn't you see the Hokage-sama is here? And Lord Hiashi is watching!"
Hinata, her steps faltering at the sound of the whispers, instinctively wanted to lower her head again. It was a habit, a lifetime of ingrained avoidance.
But the presence of Uchiha Akira beside her, a mountain of absolute calm and power, made her stop that habitual movement.
"Teacher…" Hinata's voice trembled slightly. She was terrified.
"Go."
Uchiha Akira's voice rang out, quiet but firm. It wasn't a suggestion.
"Don't have any reservations. Treat this as your own training ground. Treat him as just another Uchiha sparring partner."
He looked down at her. "Show all your strength. Show them the results of your training."
"Make everyone who looks down on you... shut their mouths."
Hinata's breath hitched. She looked at her teacher, then at Naruto in the stands, who was giving her a shaky, encouraging thumbs-up.
"Yes!"
Hinata took a deep breath. She stepped away from her teacher and into the arena, her small feet soundless on the packed earth.
She stood opposite her cousin, Neji.
Naruto, sitting in the stands just behind Akira, was scratching his ears and cheeks in pure, unadulterated frustration.
"Teacher! That guy... he looks so arrogant! I wanna pound him!"
"Just watch, Naruto," Akira said, his eyes never leaving the field. "Today is Hinata's battle. This is her moment to prove herself."
In the arena, Neji looked at Hinata, his pale, lavender eyes full of undisguised contempt.
"Lady Hinata, do you think that by becoming the Hokage-sama's disciple, you can change your fate as a weakling?"
"How... naive."
Neji shook his head, speaking in a compassionate, lecturing tone, as if speaking to a slow-witted child.
"Fate is determined from the moment a person is born. You are weak. I am a genius. This is an unchangeable, absolute fact."
[Inorin's Note: Neji's philosophy is a core part of his character, stemming from his status as a member of the Hyūga's 'Branch Family' (Bunke), who are destined to serve and protect the 'Main Family' (Sōke), to which Hinata belongs.]
"No matter how much you struggle, you cannot escape this cage. You are the Sōke. I am the Bunke. You are a failure. I am a prodigy. This is destiny."
His gaze hardened. "Associating with trash like Uzumaki Naruto, your vision has become as shortsighted as his."
"Weakness is contagious."
In the stands, some of the younger ninja from the branch family, those who idolized Neji, let out low, cruel snickers.
Naruto, who was sitting right behind Uchiha Akira, felt his blood boil. His fists clenched so tightly they were making cracking sounds.
"This guy… This bastard… he's too much!" he growled, his voice a low hiss.
Uchiha Akira said calmly, "Just watch. Anger is useless if you are not the one in the fight."
Naruto took a deep breath, the air whistling through his clenched teeth. He forcibly suppressed the urge to jump into the arena.
He fixed his gaze on Neji, wishing he could tear the Hyūga genius to pieces with his eyes.
If these words—these poisons—had been spoken to her six months ago, Hinata certainly wouldn't have dared to refute them. She would have crumpled.
But now... Hinata just listened quietly. Her usual timidity, her stammering, her flinching... they were gone.
"Brother Neji," Hinata spoke. Her voice was soft, but it was clear. And it did not tremble.
"You are wrong."
The entire dōjō went silent.
"Fate... is not unchangeable."
"Naruto-kun... he is not trash. He earned everyone's recognition through his own, desperate efforts. You look down on him only because your perspective... your vision... is still stuck in the past."
Hinata looked directly into Neji's eyes, her own Byakugan-wielding eyes firm.
"The old me... I might indeed have been weak. But that wasn't because it was my destiny."
"It was because I hadn't found the courage to move forward. I was scared."
"Now... I have found it."
Hinata's gaze, just for a second, unconsciously flickered towards Uchiha Akira and Naruto in the stands.
"I have a figure I want to catch up to."
"I have comrades I want to protect."
"And I have a teacher who guides my direction, who does not call me weak."
"So, I will no longer lose to... to so-called fate!"
"And I am no longer the weakling who could only hide behind others and cry."
These words... this speech...
Not only Neji, whose face was now a mask of stunned disbelief... but even Hyūga Hiashi and the clan elders in the stands, showed visible expressions of surprise.
Was this... was this really the timid, stuttering, useless Hinata they remembered?
Neji's shock quickly turned to a cold, simmering rage.
He had been lectured. Publicly. By her.
"If that's the case... Lady Hinata... then use your strength to prove your words."
"Let me see how far your... so-called... courage can take you."
The moment the words fell, Neji snapped into the starting stance of the Jūken (Gentle Fist).
"Byakugan!"
He let out a low growl. The veins on both sides of his temples instantly bulged, a sign of his mastery.
Hinata didn't hesitate at all. She, too, adopted the Gentle Fist stance, a perfect mirror of his.
"Byakugan!"
The dōjō held its breath. The prodigy of the Branch Family versus the failure of the Main Family.
"I'm coming, Lady Hinata."
Neji snorted coldly. He pushed off with his feet. His figure was like a white lightning bolt, instantly rushing towards Hinata!
His fingers were pressed together, forming a hand blade, aiming directly for the vital tenketsu (chakra points) on Hinata's chest!
This strike was fast, accurate, and absolutely ruthless! He was not holding back.
In the stands, many young Hyūga clansmen gasped in surprise.
However, facing this thunderous, elite strike, Hinata's face showed no trace of panic.
Her Byakugan was active. She saw the flow of his chakra. She saw the intent. She had faced faster.
Hinata's body shifted, not back, but slightly to the side. A pivot of her left foot.
It was a minimal, precise, and perfect evasion.
She narrowly, by a hair's breadth, avoided Neji's attack.
At the exact same moment, Hinata's right hand moved upwards from below. It was so fast that it left only an afterimage.
She was striking back at Neji's attacking wrist!
"Clap!"
A sharp, crisp sound echoed. Palm against wrist.
Neji's eyes widened. He only felt a sharp numbness in his wrist as her chakra-infused fingers struck his tenketsu.
A flexible, yet irresistible, force came through. His offensive stalled.
The power unleashed by Hinata's simple, defensive strike far exceeded Neji's imagination.
This strength...?!
Neji, his arm numb and his balance broken, was greatly alarmed. He immediately pushed off his back foot and retreated, putting distance between them.
Their first exchange, in a flash of lightning, had already separated them.
Hinata stood, unharmed, her arm returning to its ready stance.
But Neji... Neji was forced back, rubbing his numb wrist.
All the Hyūga clansmen widened their eyes, unable to believe what they were seeing.
The genius, hailed as one in a hundred years... Hyūga Neji...
In the very first confrontation...
...actually fell into a disadvantage?
"How… how could this be…" Neji muttered, his arrogance faltering.
He looked at his wrist, where a trace of numbness and a small, red mark still lingered.
In that instant of exchange, Hinata's movements—her timing, her footwork, her choice of angle, her counter-attack...
They were perfect. Flawless.
That was not luck.
"Impossible!" Neji's mind raced. "How could Hinata's combat experience... her instincts... be so rich?"
The pretend, non-contact fights at the Ninja Academy could not possibly hone this level of skill!
Neji didn't know. He couldn't.
He didn't know that for the past six months, Hinata and Naruto's sparring partners were not children.
They were the battle-hardened, elite Chūnin and Jōnin of the Uchiha Clan's Police Force, personally arranged by Uchiha Akira.
Hinata's experience, her very soul, had long become incredibly solid, forged through countless, brutal, near-real combat encounters.
"Brother Neji!"
Hinata's voice, now strong, called out.
"The essence of the Jūken is to overcome the rigid with the flexible. To use an opponent's strength against them. Your attack just now... it was only rigid and fierce. It lacked flexibility."
"You…!"
Neji's face turned ashen with pure, unadulterated anger at Hinata's calm, instructive words.
He... the esteemed Hyūga genius...
...was being publicly lectured...
...by a former "weakling"?
This was an unparalleled, unforgivable humiliation!
"Stop spouting nonsense!"
Neji roared, his composure shattering. He launched another, more furious attack!
"Jūkenhō: Hakke Rokujūyon Shō!" (Gentle Fist Art: Eight Trigrams Sixty-Four Palms!)
No, he wasn't using the full 64. He was using the motion.
Countless, rapid-fire palm shadows, like a fierce, inescapable storm, enveloped Hinata's entire body!
The Hyūga clansmen in the stands became tense again.
"Such fast palm strikes! I can't even see them clearly!"
"This is Neji-sama's real strength!"
"Lady Hinata is in danger!"
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