Chapter 18 - Surprised! Never seen before

"This is the Eight Trigrams Sixty-Four Palms of the Hyuga Clan!" An Anbu member, who had been observing the battle, was too shocked to speak. Anko, standing nearby, furrowed her brow deeply. Their suspicions were confirmed – the masked boy was indeed a prodigy from the Hyuga clan. But why had no one heard of him before?

"So, he really is a Hyuga kid," Orochimaru muttered with a slight grimace. As much as he didn't want to admit it, he had been thoroughly outmaneuvered by this young Anbu member.

"Two Palms!"

At this moment, Orochimaru had no chance to resist – not for the first two strikes, at least. The masked boy was moving with lightning speed, showing no signs of exhaustion despite the intense fight.

"Hmph, two hits are nothing!" Orochimaru thought to himself. He had already formulated his plan of escape, calculating that the boy could only manage to strike six palms at most before he could use the Body Replacement Technique. Once free, he would engage in a ninjutsu duel – an area where Orochimaru was confident he could not be bested, not even by the Third Hokage.

However, Orochimaru's plan quickly fell apart when Neji's two palms landed on his shoulders. Initially, Orochimaru assumed it was just the force of Neji's Chakra. But suddenly, he realized he couldn't move at all.

"Nani?" Orochimaru's eyes widened in shock. Unbeknownst to him, Neji had infused lightning-element chakra into his palms with those strikes.

"Four Palms! Eight Palms!" Neji swiftly continued his assault, retreating momentarily before striking again with blinding speed. Orochimaru could feel the Gentle Fist's chakra wreaking havoc on his internal organs while the lightning-element chakra paralyzed his body.

"What... is this?" Orochimaru thought, stunned. The lightning-imbued Gentle Fist technique was unlike anything he had encountered. Each palm strike was as swift and fierce as a bolt of thunder, and Orochimaru's body was rendered immobile, leaving him vulnerable to Neji's relentless assault on his chakra points. Orochimaru was completely outmatched in this physical confrontation, losing with no chance of retaliation.

Anko and the Anbu who had been observing were left speechless, especially Anko, whose widened eyes reflected her disbelief.

"This… is incredible!" she thought, astonished. Although Neji hadn't fully mastered the lightning element, he had infused enough of it into his palm strikes to create a whole new fighting style. This feat was unprecedented.

"To integrate nature transformation into Gentle Fist? And with a lightning element? Is this boy a genius?" One of the Anbu members muttered in disbelief.

Anko shook her head. "No, it's more than that," she said, her voice now serious. "I'm not sure this boy belongs to the Hyuga clan."

"What do you mean?" asked the Anbu member, his voice tinged with confusion.

Taking a deep breath, Anko explained, "I once had a teammate, Hyuga Tetsu, a Jōnin of the Hyuga clan. He was also incredibly talented, especially with the lightning element. But even he admitted that the Hyuga clan's secret techniques, especially those involving the Byakugan, conflicted with elemental nature transformations."

Anbu nodded, listening closely as Anko continued. "It's almost impossible to combine the two. The Byakugan and Gentle Fist technique require the purest form of chakra. Elemental chakra, by its nature, is impure and can't be integrated with Gentle Fist. That's why I don't think this boy is a true Hyuga."

After hearing Anko's analysis, everyone present nodded in agreement. They were particularly amazed by the young boy's unique fighting style. What kind of master could produce such a formidable fighter who was able to defeat Orochimaru using a previously unseen technique?

Little did they know, Neji would have laughed if he heard this conversation. He understood that people's understanding of the Byakugan was limited and incomplete. Initially, even he had been unable to break through the traditional framework. But through relentless training, Neji had pushed past his limits.

Though he had once doubted his abilities, years of dedicated practice had proven otherwise. He had learned how to manage two types of chakra simultaneously and refined his control to the point where he could infuse his attacks with both. As a result, Neji had become strong enough to stand on par with shadow-level ninjas.

"Ugh!" Orochimaru gasped as Neji's final strike hit home. His body was sent flying, electricity crackling around him as he soared over ten meters through the air before crashing to the ground, motionless.

Neji, breathing heavily and drenched in sweat under his mask, had poured all his remaining chakra into that last strike. Yet, the lightning chakra in his palms continued to surge. Using his Byakugan, he observed the chakra flowing through his body in sharp, electric bursts.

"Did it work? A new technique!" he thought, exhausted but satisfied. He knew this powerful new technique needed a strong opponent to be truly effective, and Orochimaru had proven to be the perfect test.

Just as Neji was catching his breath, two Anbu landed beside Orochimaru. Even in his weakened state, Orochimaru remained wary and refused to let them get too close.

Meanwhile, Anko approached Neji. He instinctively stepped back, and Anko stopped in her tracks.

"May I ask, who are you?" she asked cautiously.

Neji, still struggling to catch his breath, was about to respond when a loud crashing sound came from behind him. Several large trees fell to the ground, and two massive, 20-meter-long snakes appeared.

Orochimaru, rising like a zombie, glared at Neji, his eyes focused on the young man's palms. Inwardly, Orochimaru knew: "This chakra... it must belong to the Hyuga clan!"

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