Chapter 31: Hinata VS Neji, the Cry of the caged bird!
Hyuga Hinata VS Hyuga Neji.
When the two names appeared before everyone's eyes, a visible silence fell over the arena.
This wasn't just a battle; it also concerned the long-standing grievances between the Main and Branch houses of the Hyuga Clan.
"To actually run into each other... what a disgusting fate."
Below the stage, a youth wearing a beige vest with long black hair slowly walked into the arena. Within Hyuga Neji's pure white pupils was an undisguised coldness. Just by standing there, the chill he exuded made Hinata, opposite him, tremble.
"Forfeit, Lady Hinata."
Neji's voice was calm. "This isn't just a gap in strength; it's destiny. You are the trash of the Main House, and I am destined to protect people like you. Step down here, lest you suffer."
Hinata stood opposite him, her hands nervously twisted together, her face pale. She instinctively wanted to shrink back, to lower her head just as she had in the past. The pressure brought by those Byakugan was a shadow she couldn't erase from her childhood.
Looking at the little white rabbit on the field who was about to be frightened out of her wits, Uzumaki Naruto, leaning on the second-floor railing, curled his lip.
With one hand supporting his chin, his blue eyes looked as if he were spacing out, but in reality, the bullet chat in his mind was already flooding the screen.
[Tsk tsk, listen to that. As expected of my Brother-in-law, what a foul mouth. If I didn't know better, I'd think he had poison in his mouth.]
[What destiny? What caged bird?]
[Sigh, but the current Wife Hinata is truly pitiful; it makes one's heart ache just looking at her. Look at those trembling calves, and that gaze she doesn't dare to lift...]
[If only I could see the usually weak and gentle Wife Hinata suddenly use those soft little hands to fiercely slap the face of this poser Neji... Hiss, that contrast, just thinking about it gives me goosebumps!]
Hyuga Hinata's heart, which had been filled with fear, suddenly gave a violent throb.
The ninja world sky screen was broadcasting that youth's inner thoughts in her mind.
That cry of "Wife Hinata" was like a bolt of lightning that shattered Neji's suffocating aura.
Wife...?
Naruto-kun... called me... Wife?
Hinata's originally pale face turned red at a speed visible to the naked eye.
[Ding!]
[Detected that the key figure Uzumaki Naruto has developed an extremely strong protective desire and a mischievous urge to'see a face-slap' toward you, and has unilaterally confirmed an intimate form of address.]
[Your emotions have broken through the threshold! The 'Chains of Self-Denial' have been forcibly shattered by the power of the sky screen!]
[Received sky screen reward: Absolute Confidence · Psychological Lock Released.]
[Received sky screen reward: Gentle Fist Art · Chakra Flow Acceleration 50%!]
A cool sensation rushed to the top of her head, and Hinata suddenly felt the world before her eyes had changed. Neji's originally intimidating figure no longer seemed so terrifying in her eyes.
"Hey, you over there..."
Seeing Hinata suddenly go still with a strange blush on her face, Neji's brow furrowed even deeper. "Are you listening to me? This useless struggling will only make you look more pathetic."
"Brother Neji."
Hinata finally spoke.
She raised her head, and within those pure white eyes, there was no longer any evasion. Instead, there was a determination that felt foreign even to Neji.
"I... will not forfeit."
Though her voice was still trembling slightly, "Because... someone is watching me."
Naruto, on the railing, raised an eyebrow, the corners of his mouth unable to resist curling upward.
[Oho? That look is right! That's the vibe!]
[But momentum alone isn't enough; that guy Nejireally does have skill. Especially his Rotation concept, which protects him airtight.]
[But... in this world, there is no such thing as an absolute defense.]
[Neji's biggest weakness is that he trusts his eyes too much. Even with the Byakugan, there's a Visual Blind Spot.]
[Right at the position of his First Thoracic Vertebra! That's the hub for all Chakra flow and also a blind spot for his vision. But he's too proud, thinking he can compensate for this flaw with his reaction speed.]
Below the stage, Hinata's pupils contracted slightly.
First Thoracic Vertebra... Visual Blind Spot...
Naruto-kun... even knows secrets like this that only core members of the Hyuga Clan could possibly know?
With the enhancement of the sky screen, Hinata's vision seemed to have an auto-lock function. She stared at Neji's back, and in a daze, she really felt a slight stagnation in the Chakra flow at that spot.
"Stubborn and foolish."
Neji snorted coldly, his center of gravity sinking as he assumed the starting stance of the Gentle Fist. The oppressive aura belonging to a genius of the Hyuga Clan erupted along with his Chakra, spreading outward like a tide. "In that case, don't blame me for showing no mercy."
Byakugan, Activate!
The meridians around his eyes bulged ferociously. Neji stomped his foot and charged toward Hinatalike an arrow.
Metal Lee on the second floor clenched his fists; he knew very well how terrifying this speed was.
However, just when everyone thought Hinatawould be struck down by this blow—
Hinata moved.
Gentle Fist Art · Chakra Flow Acceleration 50% meant that her neural reactions and strike speed had increased by a full half in a short period!
Facing Neji's palm strike aimed straight at her throat, Hinata did not retreat. She stepped aside, her footwork extremely nimble.
In that instant, she and Neji brushed past each other.
At this moment, Hinata's mind was filled entirely with Naruto's words: "fiercely slap the face of this poser Neji."
She didn't know where the courage came from, but her two fingers, which were supposed to strike an acupoint, miraculously changed moves midway, turning from fingers into a palm.
Slap!
A crisp sound echoed through the arena.
Time seemed to stop.
Kakashi Hatake's hand flipping through make-out tactics stopped.
The pipe in the Third Hokage's mouth almost fell out.
Naruto, who was watching the show, suddenly widened his eyes like copper bells.
In the center of the arena.
Neji maintained his forward-charging posture, yet his entire body was frozen stiff. On his originally cool, fair face that was written all over with "I am a genius," there was now a bright red, clear handprint.
It stung with a burning pain.
Who am I? Where am I? Was I just... slapped in the face?
Hinata maintained her palm-swinging posture, looking at her own hand, also a bit dazed. But immediately, feeling the surging power within her body and a sense of liberation she had never felt before, the corners of her mouth couldn't help but tilt up slightly.
That was... the smile of a victor.
[Ho... ly crap!]
On the second-floor railing, Naruto could no longer keep his cool; the roar in his heart was about to blow the roof off.
[It really is a face-slap! A literal face-slap! My Wife Hinata is just too amazing! That crisp sound was like heavenly music! This isn't Gentle Fist; this is clearly a 'Correction Palm'!]
[Neji is completely stunned! Look at his eyes; his worldview must be shattered! Hahahaha! That's it! Whatever 'destiny is set,' in front of that dumbfounded expression of his, it's all complete bullshit!]
[Ding!]
[System detected that you have shown extreme admiration for Hyuga Hinata's strike. Hyuga Hinata's affection and confidence values have reacted violently.]
[Received reward: Hyuga Style · Evasive Footwork (Fusion Version). Your Taijutsu talent has received a minor correction.]
"I want to correct one thing you said, Brother Neji."
Hinata turned around, looking at her cousin who was still questioning his life. Then, as if repeating the words of the person in her head, every word seemed to be a complete farewell to her former cowardly self.
"A caged bird, if it only has one chance to flap its wings..."
"It will want to fly into the sky, rather than stay in a cage, waiting to be fed by fate."