Saving the Uchiha clan starts with becoming the clan leader.

"Very impressive. They've really mastered the art of deception, and they almost fooled me too."

Mei Terumi readily agreed.

Moreover, her words weren't entirely flattery. Sasuke's performance was indeed excellent, and his strength was completely different from that of Kurama Yakumo and Uzumaki Naruto. Kurama Yakumo and Uzumaki Naruto crushed their opponents with overwhelming strength, while Sasuke gained the upper hand in battle through excellent tactics.

This set of tactics, which combines deception and reality, is so brilliant that even the most seasoned actors have to admit its brilliance.

"The brat from the Uchiha clan..."

Onoki grimaced unhappily and muttered a couple of things under his breath.

He was already annoyed by the sight of the Uchiha clan. Having an extremely annoying but helpless Uchiha sitting next to him was already irritating enough, but now seeing the outstanding performance of the Uchiha brat made him even angrier. He even started to complain about the injustice of fate.

Why are all the talented people flocking to Konoha?

He couldn't find a single successor in Iwagakure who could inherit his Dust Release technique. The disparity was chilling!

"Oh? This is..."

Suddenly, Ai's eyes widened, and he stared intently at the situation on the field without blinking. After deceiving Hyuga Neji's Byakugan, Sasuke threw out eight shuriken, sealing off Hyuga Neji's room to dodge. Despite being forced into a corner, Hyuga Neji did not admit defeat.

Instead, they adopted a peculiar stance.

It even attracted the attention of the Fourth Raikage.

Not just Ai,

Even the Hyuga clan leader, Hyuga Hiashi, and his youngest daughter, Hyuga Hanabi, sitting in the front row of the stands, stared in astonishment at the arena.

All I saw was—

As the shuriken drew near,

Hyuga Neji's body spun like a top, releasing chakra from his chakra points throughout his body in the instant of rotation. This created an indestructible barrier at high speed, deflecting the incoming shuriken.

Not only that,

Even the ground beneath our feet had been scraped clean.

"Bagua Palm - Reversal of Heaven!!"

The one who pronounced the name was Ai.

The Fourth Raikage gazed at the Hyuga clan youth on the field, a deep longing appearing in his eyes. The Hyuga clan... had once caused the Cloud Ninja, who also loved taijutsu, great losses on the battlefield. Their Eight Trigrams Palm Rotation's absolute defense had left countless Cloud Ninja battered and bruised.

"A genius of the Hyuga clan? That's truly... something to be envied."

Watching Hyuga Neji's figure, Ai's mood grew increasingly heavy.

And he wasn't the only one.

Rasa, Onoki, and Terumi Meigu, who stood firmly on Konoha's side, all looked rather grim. The endless stream of geniuses in Konoha was making them so jealous that they were almost unrecognizable, and at the same time, they felt a deep sense of pressure.

"It's a miracle!"

Zongxian ignored the changing expressions of the guests around him, focusing intently on the battle on the field. He wasn't disappointed at all by Sasuke's failure to win; on the contrary, a smile appeared on his face. This was exactly what made it interesting!

Like Yakumo and Naruto,

Although the victory was exhilarating, the feeling... couldn't compare to this evenly matched battle.

"Let's see! Sasuke, Neji, who will win the crown in this match?"

······

On the field,

Sasuke frowned slightly. His sure-fire attack had been broken... It was definitely unexpected. As far as he knew, Hyuga Neji was a member of the Hyuga clan's branch family, and if he remembered correctly, techniques like the Rotation Technique were only mastered by members of the Hyuga main family.

"My luck... is just too bad! Why are all my opponents so troublesome?"

Sasuke sighed heavily.

My luck is really bad!

During the preliminaries, she encountered Mikan Shimizu of Kirigakure, a girl with the 'Boiling Release' bloodline limit. It took her a lot of effort to get a ticket to the finals. But in the finals, she encountered Neji Hyuga, who had mastered the ultimate technique, Rotation.

In contrast,

Naruto's luck is much better than mine.

Of course, despite his sigh, he didn't forget that they were still in the middle of a match. He quickly formed hand seals, gathered his chakra to his throat, and aimed at Hyuga Neji, who had just finished his Resurrection, as he opened his mouth and spat out a fireball that looked like a balsam flower seed flying around.

Fire Release: Phoenix Flower Technique —

He had absolutely no intention of engaging in close combat.

Determined to defeat Hyuga Neji with mid-to-long-range attacks, the Eight Trigrams Palm: Rotation, a signature technique of the Hyuga main family, consumes a considerable amount of chakra. Judging from Hyuga Neji's current chakra reserves, he can probably only use it six or seven times.

Neji Hyuga was clearly aware of the problem with chakra consumption.

He wouldn't use the Reverse Heaven technique unless he was forced into a corner. First, it's extremely difficult to use, requiring him to concentrate fully to master it. Second, there's the issue of chakra consumption, a problem that 99% of ninjas in the ninja world have to worry about and consider.

Like the Uchiha, the Hyuga clan...

Their chakra reserves far exceed those of ordinary ninjas without bloodline advantages, but compared to the Senju and Uzumaki, who are extremely wealthy, the Hyuga and Uchiha still need to consider the amount of chakra they consume.

Faced with Sasuke's Phoenix Flower Technique

Neji Hyuga did not use the Rejuvenation Technique, nor did he retreat to dodge. Instead, he chose to advance. This time, he faced Sasuke's attack head-on, without needing to use the Rejuvenation Technique to defend as he had done before.

He charged forward, meeting the small fireballs flying towards him head-on. He raised his hand and extinguished them one by one. Sasuke could clearly see that Hyuga Neji's hands were wrapped in chakra, like gloves, which insulated him from the heat of the fireballs and also increased the power of his attack.

Phoenix Fire Technique

That's how it was forcibly cracked.

At the same time, he was also brought closer by Hyuga Neji.

"This is······"

Hiashi Hyuga, sitting in the audience, once again showed a look of astonishment.

Wrapping chakra around one's hands... Unlike the Rotation Technique, this is not a secret technique of the Hyuga main family, but the ability to consistently and stably wrap chakra around one's hands is one of the standards for mastering the Hyuga Gentle Fist Technique. At this stage, one can practice the long-range attack technique 'Empty Palm'.

They can also further train in advanced family martial arts techniques such as the "Gentle Step Double Lion Fist," which incorporates form changes.

"Neji, have you really come to this?"

Hiashi Hyuga muttered to himself, a thought even surfacing involuntarily in his mind that perhaps his younger brother, Hizashi, was more suited to be the clan head. In that case, Neji would be the main branch… and the Hyuga clan, under Neji's leadership, might surpass unprecedented limits…

"Father? Are you alright?"

The voice that reached his ears shattered Hiashi Hyuga's unrealistic fantasy.

Beside him,

Hinata Hanabi looked at him with a hint of unease.

He sighed silently, reached out and patted his youngest daughter's head. "It's alright, Hanabi. Watch closely, Neji... He's a role model for you and your sister."

While the father and daughter were talking in the audience,

The battle on the field intensified. Unexpectedly, Hyuga Neji managed to withstand the Phoenix Flower Technique and reach Sasuke. Having missed a crucial move, Sasuke was immediately put on the defensive, struggling to withstand Hyuga Neji's relentless attacks.

Even though Hyuga Neji was unarmed,

Sasuke, however, was holding a small katana.

Generally speaking, in such physical combat, the side with weapons should have the advantage. However, this general theory cannot be applied to some special cases. The Hyuga clan is a special case among special cases. Not many people are willing to fight the Hyuga clan, who have mastered the technique of 'pressure point striking', in close combat.

Engage in hand-to-hand combat with Hyuga.

Often, being hit just once is tantamount to declaring defeat.

Ninjas rely on chakra to fight. Even taijutsu ninjas need chakra. However, compared to using ninjutsu and genjutsu, ordinary taijutsu consumes less chakra. But ultimately, ninjas cannot escape the limitation of chakra. The pressure point technique of the Hyuga clan's Gentle Fist can temporarily prevent ninjas from using chakra.

What consequences will this bring?

Every ninja knows this.

then,

Even though Sasuke was wielding a weapon, he was still being overwhelmed by Neji Hyuga, trying his best to avoid being hit. To be precise, it was fortunate that he had a weapon; if he had fought Hyuga unarmed... he probably would have been knocked to the ground long ago.

"hateful!"

Sasuke, his forehead covered in sweat, gritted his teeth.

This can't go on.

If this drags on, defeat is inevitable.

They had to find a way to turn the tide, or at least create some distance. This was when the results of a month of special training came in handy. As Sasuke retreated under Neji Hyuga's onslaught, arcs of electricity suddenly flickered on his feet.

"Stab!"

A soft rumble of thunder sounded.

Sasuke moved at an extremely fast speed, as if he had been put on fast forward.

In a flash,

He then distanced himself from Hyuga Neji by more than three meters.

only--

"Don't even think about escaping."

Neji Hyuga suddenly unleashed chakra from the soles of his feet, shattering the ground beneath his feet. At the same time, he shot forward like a rocket, closing in on Sasuke and giving him no chance to create distance.

Accelerate by unleashing chakra from the soles of your feet.

This is not some secret technique.

It is a basic technique found in all taijutsu styles. However, being basic does not mean it is useless in actual combat. At most, it has the disadvantage of consuming a lot of chakra and putting a considerable burden on the chakra meridians in the feet, so it cannot be used frequently. But as long as the benefits outweigh the damage caused by this disadvantage, it can be used.

For example, now,

As long as he can hold Sasuke back and prevent him from getting too far away, this small injury is nothing to Hyuga Neji.

fighting,

This led to a delicate stalemate.

Sasuke kept trying to increase the distance between himself and Neji Hyuga, repeatedly using Lightning Release chakra to stimulate his body cells. Neji, in order not to be outpaced, kept unleashing bursts of chakra to accelerate. The result was that the two suffered backlash almost simultaneously.

Although Sasuke had trained under his brother's guidance for a month on the technique of using Lightning Release chakra to stimulate his body's cells, that time was still too short. He hadn't truly mastered the technique, so much so that after using it multiple times, his body... couldn't take it anymore, and his legs almost went numb for a moment.