The Byakugan

"Mezawari... Go!"

Seeing the horrid puppet speed towards him, Neji remained calm... He quickly analyzed the inner workings of Mezawari with his eyes.

'I see... It has poison contraptions and multiple hidden weapons... I should be careful with this one.'

Surprisingly, Neji did not use his revolving heaven technique against the enormous puppet. He just stood there, waiting for it to arrive.

'Heh... It's over.'

Kankurō flicked his fingers and the puppet aimed a direct punch towards Neji, who easily avoided it... Mezawari kept on attacking but did not land a single hit.

Angered, Kankurō resorted to a surprise attack.

Mezawari's mouth quickly opened and a purple needle came flying towards Neji's chest. It was at point-blank range, making it almost impossible to dodge.

"I've got you now!"

Suddenly, Neji released massive amounts of chakra once again, spinning around at blinding speeds. The resultant revolving heaven disintegrated the needle and sent Mezawari flying back to Kankurō.

"What?! How did you do that?!"

The young puppeteer was speechless.

Not only had Neji anticipated all of his puppet's attacks, which was a feat not many could brag about, but he also saw that guaranteed-kill attack coming and instantly defended it!

Stopping the chakra flow, Neji came to a halt and looked at his opponent dead in the eyes. His mouth curled up into a contemptuous smile as he pointed to his eyes.

"My eyes can see everything. I can see the chakra threads that you use to control your stupid toys, and I can tell where they are connected. I can predict all of your attacks."

Up in the stands, Temari looked restless.

"How did he see that coming? Kankurō's puppets are extremely versatile, and their attacks are not easily read..."

Beside her, Lee frowned.

"Neji is part of Konoha's strongest clan... The Hyūga clan. People of that clan have special eyes that allow them to see through any material... Including the human body and it's chakra pathway system. A puppet is nothing for him."

Hearing this, Temari almost couldn't believe it.

"What...? Is he that strong?"

Lee did not look at Temari, keeping his eyes locked on Neji instead. A fire burning deep within his soul.

Down there, Kankurō had an incredulous expression on his face.

"Impossible! Let's see what you do about this!"

Angered, Kankurō controlled both Mezawari and Karasu at the same time, sending them towards Neji. Again, the young Hyūga just stood there, waiting.

Once both puppets were in range, they immediately drew their blades and spikes, aiming them towards Neji, who dodged everything with ease, as if he could see the future.

Kankurō started panicking, unable to understand what was happening.

'There...!'

After dodging one of the many attacks, Neji punctured Mezawari's coat, hitting its main carapace. Suddenly, it's movements became a lot stiffer.

"What!? What did you do!?"

Now scared, Kankurō raised his arm, trying to pull Mezawari out of the conflict before anything happened.

"Not so fast!"

Suddenly, Neji spun and sliced through the air. At first, it looked like nothing had happened, but once Mezawari fell to the ground, the audience became silent.

"How...?"

Kankurō was in utter disbelief. Neji had cut the chakra threads of his puppet, making him lose control of it.

"I told you... I can see everything... That is the power of a Hyūga. Now, I'll let you taste the defeat you talked about."

Neji's feet pushed the ground as he flickered next to Kankurō, immediately going on the offensive.

Reacting fast, the puppeteer tried to bring Karasu back to help him but Neji quickly cut it's chakra threads.

"You're mine!"

...

"Heh..."

"What...?"

Just as Neji's palm hit Kankurō's face, the impact was not the expected one. Somehow, Neji hadn't even managed to make him budge.

"The poison finally took effect..."

"Poison? But when!"

Smiling, Kankurō took jumped away, creating separation between the two of them.

"It was when you started dodging instead of repelling. Before the fight, I coated Mezawari's spikes with a colorless and odorless poison that is splashed around in small quantities with every hit."

"It seems like some landed on your skin. Oh, and this is not normal poison... It infects the chakra pathway system, meaning that cutting off your arm is useless..."

Raising his finger, Kankurō smirked and pointed at Neji's arm. Looking down, the Hyūga's face twisted in shock.

His arm was completely red... The reaction had almost reached his shoulder area.

'I have to stop it from spreading to the rest of my body, or else, I'll be in trouble!'

Neji acted fast, biting his sleeve and locating the tenketsu connecting his arm's pathway system to the rest of his body.

Releasing chakra out of his finger's tenketsu, he stabbed them into his arm in specific places, cutting off all chakra flow.

By doing so, he stopped the poison but would be unable to use his arm in this fight. Even so, Neji remained calm in the face of adversity.

Kankurō looked surprised that Neji had managed to stop the poison, but inside, he was confident.

"You may have stopped the poison... But you can't use your revolving heaven anymore, right? Let's see you dodge this!"

With a sadistic expression, Kankurō reattached his chakra threads to Mezawari, breathing life into the horrendous puppet once again.

"How? I cut your threads before!"

"A master puppeteer can reattach his threads as fast as he wants to! Die!"

Flicking his fingers, Kankuro controlled Mezawari as it sped towards Neji. While in mid-air, it opened its mouth and a massive, metallic spike came out of it.

Then, Kankurō twisted his arms and Mezawari started spinning, performing a powerful and fast drill attack.

Seeing it coming, Neji did his best and somehow managed to dodge it.

"It's not over yet!"

Suddenly, Mezawari stopped right next to Neji, and the spikes on its arms extended at lightning speed, reaching for his flesh.

'I can't dodge! I must use the heavenly... I can't..."

Unable to dodge or block, the spikes perforated Neji's right shoulder and thigh, locking him in place. Blood flowed out of the wounds as he screamed in pain.

"Argh!"

"It's over!"

Kankurō controlled Karasu, making it wrap its body around the motionless Neji, and straining him.

"Die!"

"The match is over!"

Suddenly, Genma intervened and took down Karasu, separating it from Neji's body. The young Genin was now unconscious and struggling to breathe.

"Kankurō, from the hidden sand, wins!"