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The forest was still, a deceptive calm hanging over the Fire Country's lesser-known regions. Dappled sunlight filtered through a tangle of leaves, painting the ground in shifting patterns. Shin crouched on a thick tree branch, scanning the forest with his Byakugan activated.
He had been tailing the suspicious chakra signature for hours now. The anomaly had moved erratically... stopping, vanishing, then reappearing a few meters away, a classic baiting pattern. Shin narrowed his eyes.
Suddenly, the wind changed. A presence.
"Behind."
He twisted on the branch, launching backward as a kunai sliced through the space he had just occupied. He landed silently on the forest floor.
A lone figure emerged from the shadows. Average height, lean build, flak vest tailored to hide movement, but not chakra... which flickered with an ominous hue.
"Heh. Byakugan? Been a long time since I encountered one," the stranger said, his voice like dry leaves.
Shin dispelled his Transformation Jutsu. In his place stood a Hyuga, Neji Hyuga.
Why isn't he surprised seeing a Hyuga? Neji thought, slightly perturbed.
The Uchiha smirked, eyes scanning Neji's forehead.
"A Branch member," he said, noting the curse seal hidden beneath white forehead bands. The tone wasn't mocking. It was more... informed.
In a flash, he activated his Sharingan. Two tomoe spun in each eye.
Neji slid into a loose stance, fingers spread. Kunai on one hand, a paper bomb hidden in the hem of his sleeve. He inhaled slowly.
--
Neji lunged first. His feet barely touched the bark as he blitzed forward through the undergrowth, aiming a feint to the side followed by a burst of eight gentle strikes aimed at the Uchiha's ribs.
But the Uchiha had already moved. As Neji turned, a kick slammed into his side. He flew backward, crashing through low-hanging branches, tumbling across the dirt.
His reflexes... the Sharingan reads everything.
Neji rolled to his feet and threw a smoke bomb. The forest filled with a dense gray haze. He moved soundlessly, Byakugan slicing through the obscurity. The Uchiha stood still in the smoke, not even drawing a weapon.
Neji came from above, a kunai angled at the neck.
CLANG!
The Uchiha casually deflected it with his own, then caught Neji's wrist mid-air, twisting. Neji winced as the bones creaked.
"Too slow."
Neji used the trapped arm for leverage, flipping mid-air and kicking off the Uchiha's chest. A tag slipped from his sleeve...paper bomb. It latched onto the Uchiha's flak vest.
BOOM!
Leaves shredded, bark splintered, and the air reeked of smoke.
Neji landed in a crouch. Byakugan flared.
The chakra signature was intact. The Uchiha emerged, slightly scuffed but otherwise unharmed, a layer of protective chakra having flared at the last second.
"Not bad. But predictable."
---
They clashed again. This time, Neji activated Eight Trigrams: Thirty-Two Palms. His hands moved in a blur, precise and deadly. He struck once. Twice. Four times.
The Uchiha weaved through the strikes like water, his movements minimal yet fluid. He ducked under the twelfth strike and responded with a flurry of punches. Neji blocked three but caught a knee to the chest, then an elbow to the jaw.
He's reading my chakra flow with his Sharingan. Even my faintest muscle twitch.
Neji stumbled back, blood at the corner of his lip. But something sparked in his mind... he had learned. He was starting to read too.
He hurled a pair of kunai at off-angles. The Uchiha deflected both... but Neji had vanished. He struck from behind, aiming at the spine.
Tap!
The Uchiha blocked with a backward palm, not even turning. Then he spun and delivered a brutal spinning kick. Neji took the full brunt and slammed into a tree trunk, splinters embedding in his skin.
"You're adapting," the Uchiha admitted, rolling his shoulder. "But you lack killing intent."
---
Neji's movements grew tighter. Gone were the wild openings. He baited strikes, slipped past sweeps, even nicked the Uchiha once across the shoulder. His Byakugan was finding patterns... movement arcs, micro-lag between the Uchiha's dodges.
The forest around them blurred. Bark flew, trees toppled. A kunai embedded itself inches from Neji's eye. He ignored it.
Can't use Chakra Sōgeki: Asshuku-ten. It would destroy my finger. And I'd only get one shot.
The Uchiha sensed the momentary hesitation and surged forward, leg sweeping low. Neji jumped, flipped, aimed a palm at the heart... but the Uchiha countered with a spinning flame release.
Fire Release: Ember Ring! A circle of fire flared out like a wheel.
Neji barely shielded with a spin. The flames grazed him, burning part of his sleeve. The Uchiha crashed into him with a shoulder thrust, sending him skidding across the ground.
---
Neji coughed. He was bruised, bleeding from a dozen spots, lip swollen. His arms ached from absorbing shocks. But his footwork had sharpened.
The Uchiha began using basic genjutsu... subtle flickers to distort movement. Neji dispelled them mid-flow, his Byakugan cutting through illusion.
He knows I can break them. He's testing how much chakra I'll spend.
"You're learning," the Uchiha said. "But I still own the tempo."
And then he moved with full speed.
Neji couldn't follow it all. A punch to the gut. A kunai cut along his ribs. His chakra points were being avoided deliberately... the Uchiha was toying with him.
Neji slipped a smoke bomb again, but this time, it failed. The Uchiha had already activated Wind Release to scatter the smoke.
Then Neji tried something reckless... he pretended to faint.
As the Uchiha approached, Neji erupted into a sudden strike. The feint forced the Uchiha to dodge, and for the first time, Neji grazed his enemy's cheek.
Blood.
"Tch... You're stubborn."
--
Neji's legs trembled. He was breathing hard, vision slightly blurry.
The Uchiha sheathed his kunai.
"Let's end it."
He blitzed forward. Neji crossed his arms, tried to spin... but he was too slow.