Metamorphosis Part Two
He didn't know when he started on the path that he had chosen. He just knew that it had to happen at some point. Especially when the one who made him choose this path was the one who gave him his most humiliating beat down ever since.
BZZT!
Hyuuga Neji gazed down to his hands where arcs of lightning crackled in different directions. He looked up, in front of him was the teacher of Team Seven, aloof and reading his book. He had asked for advice on how to properly conduct the Raiton element. It was clear now that what he had been doing since his time fighting off Kidoumaru that he still has little understanding concerning lightning chakra. What better way to understand Raiton than the one who had created a jutsu that can cleave lightning in two?
"So you've come to understand the use of lightning chakra with just a glance? No wonder the Hyuuga consider you a prodigy. Talent like yours only appear once a generation." Kakashi had mused, Neji merely disregarded Kakashi's praise in favour of something else.
"Compared to your students, Kakashi-sensei? I am not at all that special."
Kakashi deduced that Neji's change in attitude was in part due to the said boy's loss against his supposed worst student.
"My students are indeed something else. They carry with them the potential to become as great as or even greater than the Sannin. But they would not have gone this far if they didn't develop those mind sets all on their own. Conviction and confidence play a vital part in growth. There are those that believe that they can achieve greater heights and often, they succeed out of sheer belief that they can. I think my students have been infected by Naruto's optimism and in turn, your entire group as well."
Neji merely focused more on his hands as he changed the nature of his chakra once more to electricity.
"What do you hope to achieve in learning Raiton?" Kakashi asked all of a sudden, Neji was caught off guard and his concentration vanished with his Raiton chakra following suit.
Neji looked at Kakashi who was still looking at his book. But Neji knew well that the aloof jounin was listening intently.
"To improve my ability to use Jyuuken, to take it to even greater heights, and to enhance my ability to deliver faster and quicker strikes, that is my goal."
Kakashi then looked up the Hyuuga prodigy and said, "I find it strange that for someone of your calibre in taijutsu to be adding elements to age old traditions. And an element you're not even aligned with, no less. Why do you insist in using Raiton as your primary element?"
Neji gave Kakashi an answer he had almost come to expect from the boy, "Because I want to defy destiny, to become lightning and strike down a fate that was meant for me, I will never succumb to such a thing. To be lightning is to be free, to be untamed, unshackled by the decrees of others. To become lightning, means to be the bolt that will strike down anyone who will oppose me. That is my will and I will follow that will even to the brink of death."
Kakashi closed his book for this one and then said to Neji, "Lightning chakra has many uses. But in its offensive use, Lightning chakra is used to pierce anything in its path. But that is not why you're here, there's something else that intrigues you about lightning chakra, is there?"
"I believe lightning chakra is more than that. There are much more use for chakra natures other than offensive skills." Neji replied and Kakashi gave a nod at that.
"The Raikage uses Lightning chakra to enhance his physical ability and his defence. It is a jutsu passed down from one Raikage to another as it is their given right. Speed, power, reaction and defence are all enhanced by that jutsu to the point that it almost rivalled the speed of the Fourth Hokage."
Kakashi then sighed as he looked up, "Unfortunately, such a jutsu is a hijutsu (secret technique), and no normal means can ever replicate its ability down to a certain point. I would bet even with my sharingan, I cannot copy that ability so easily. Unless you create something akin to that will as may well be the closest we'll be ever for it."
Kakashi then performed a single Raikiri in his hands and let it surge to the ground, the bolt of lightning turned into the shape of a wolf and crackled as it went after a training log and shattering it upon contact.
"So it will be up to you to discover this ability on your own, Neji. But you must propose your idea first before going ahead and practicing it. Anything that tampers with the body's functions should be checked by proper personnel due to a high chance that you might kill yourself accidentally in the process. Someone of your skill and talent will think of something. I should know. I know talent when I see it."
Neji looked at his hands and then to the destroyed log. He knew that this was not what he was looking for and the seemingly dead end that he had reached was certainly growing more and more cumbersome.
He looked at the sky, the thoughts of his clan, his team, his goals and his own existence came into mind.
Kakashi watched as the boy was slowly trying to figure out what Neji was trying to accomplish.
"To become lightning, huh? I think I have heard of a play that involved that phrase." Kakashi mused as he turned to his book and began to walk away. The thoughts of plays and literature entering his mind as he made his way back to the village with the intent of knowing Sasuke's progress as well as the thoughts of the progress of his other two students.
Somewhere in Fire Country:
Jiraiya stood before a sitting Naruto, holding a wooden stick in his left hand as he watched the boy stay still for several minutes.
Jiraiya slightly kicked the ground and dust made his way to the blonde, twitching ever so slightly.
Not one to miss of seeing something, Jiraiya promptly smacked the boy on the head with the stick.
"Stop getting distracted, boy! I told you to keep focusing on yourself and not on your body! Learn to stay still!"
Naruto flinched at Jiraiya's hit and nursed his aching head from Jiraiya's doing.
"I'm trying, damn it! You made me do this every two hours before proper training! What's the purpose of this anyway?"
Jiraiya merely scoffed at the boy's response, "It's to help you with what I'm about to teach you in a few short months! Keep at it and you'll be doing this for the rest of the training trip!"
"We've been doing this stupid exercise for half a year since we left the village!" Naruto complained. As he stretched his legs on the ground for a moment and reached leaned down to grab the tip of his toes and extending it to relieve the tension in his feet.
"And it will take us more than half a year if you keep getting distracted! Now get back to your position and do it again! We still have an hour and forty-five minutes left before we start with the physical training!"
"Then stop distracting me, ero-sennin!" Naruto answered back, Jiraiya grew a tick mark on the back of his head.
"It is part of the training, dumbass! And stop calling me ero-sennin!"
Jiraiya whacked Naruto again for good measure.
WHACK
"Ow!"
"Sit your ass down in a lotus position, brat and stop moving!" Jiraiya ordered the boy to which Naruto complied, although begrudgingly.
One hour and several more bruises later, Naruto was now readying himself for some training in taijutsu.
Jiraiya had to remind him that his taijutsu should befit his arsenal to create a better sense of advantage. A form of movement that only HE can do sounded like a sweet deal to him.
After all, how can someone be prepared if they have no prior knowledge of his ability? That would certainly be something if they weren't aware of his movements.
For the first month, Jiraiya only taught Naruto about the basics, fighting in close range, correcting many errors in his stance and weapon grips, and being taught how to disarm opponents and using joint locks and throws. Jiraiya emphasized that Naruto only needed the bare bones on learning how to fight, the usage of such techniques only truly depended on Naruto's judgement and how he's going to do them.
Of course when it came to sparring, Jiraiya was surprised that Naruto had good decision making capabilities on his own when he fought. Naruto fought like his life depended on it, he fought with proficiency of a seasoned war veteran and his movements were calculating with every step. They were very subtle, the way Naruto moved, the way he reacted to every punch Jiraiya could dish out and the way he seemed to move fluidly as he went around. His movements didn't have patterns in them except that he tends to go around in circles for a few seconds and occasionally glancing to his side, just like a predator.
Jiraiya had appreciated Danzo's effective training methods in honing Naruto's fighting potential. Naruto was like a proverbial storm in his eyes that or a vicious animal. He moves randomly and strikes hard when he does so. His unpredictable nature only seemed to flourish more and more as Naruto thrived from his teachings every day.
The blonde even started taking down his Fuinjutsu lessons well too. Naruto was like a sponge when he began his lectures in the art of sealing. Naruto was quite enthusiastic on the subject and his enthusiasm brought forth the hidden talent within him. If Jiraiya didn't know any better, he would be saying that Naruto's affinity for the art was in his blood.
By Jiraiya's estimate, Naruto would be able to create and use his own seal designs in less than a decade if he kept it up. It truly was a waste of potential to see the village squander away such talent within the boy. Danzo may have been a prick but that man knew talent when he saw one. He wasn't the rival of Sarutobi Hiruzen for nothing. That interest, of course, was only brought out when Naruto had the right teacher. Danzo wouldn't have been interested in the boy if it weren't for the Kyuubi and the recently shown potential that Naruto was capable of.
Which came to Jiraiya's other conclusion when it came to the old crone; Danzo may be good at seeing talent and their worth as a utility, but he was prone to submitting to first impressions.
As the self-proclaimed shinobi of darkness, that was probably his weakness.
Jiraiya had then looked at the boy as he listed Naruto's growing set of skills. His Taijutsu was very practical with little to no flashy individual moves and consisted of coordinating movements with his clones. Over a year ago, Naruto developed that system with barely anything but his own wits and tenacity about him. Now, only very few openings were made, they were calculating, dangerous and outright vicious if he wanted to. If he were to be compared to taijutsu practitioners his age, then Lee would be like a battering ram or a siege engine, designed to plow through enemy defences with brute force and Naruto would be the unstoppable berserker laying waste to the poor souls he sets his sights on.
The mere intimidation factor alone would be enough to scare the weak with those skills.
His elemental training though, was something else.
Jiraiya didn't see it at first but Naruto's proficiency in his element was something he had trouble believing initially. When Naruto explained to him, Jiraiya was left picking up his jaw on the floor as Naruto slashed away at a large rock with nothing but his hands. The stone had been cut pretty clean too. The area where Naruto had slashed away was as smooth as a stone worker's carvings. If it was wet enough, Jiraiya would have probably slipped and fell from the rock.
Naruto's explanation though, was that he was inspired when he saw how the Hyuuga fought. He took tips from Hinata in how to apply devastating chakra blows on his palms and then made it even better by applying it to his fingertips and turning that chakra into wind nature.
They were simple principles, but Jiraiya knew the effectiveness of Naruto's new jutsu.
He also noticed another subtle thing about it too. It was as if space itself was split for a very brief period before that rock was now two pieces of hardened earth on the soil, though. But the most dangerous thing about it though, was its visibility or the lacking of it.
Jiraiya knew if anyone could see chakra, then the effectiveness of the jutsu would be nullified. But that didn't stop it from being any less deadly to normal shinobi.
He shuddered to think just how effective it would be if Naruto were to apply sage chakra into it.
Since then, he has told Naruto to write the specifics of the jutsu down on a scroll and asked his student to name the jutsu.
Naruto had dubbed it aptly, Kuukanzangeki (Space Cutting Strike).
His thoughts were cut off when Naruto asked him, "So why aren't we going at the place you're talking about, Ero-sennin?"
Jiraiya looked at the boy and answered, "It's because you're a twitchy brat and whatever I'm going to teach you there, you'll need to stay still. As if you were a large tree, undeterred by the winds blowing, you need to learn how to control yourself. You should take a page out of that Hyuuga you fought during the finals. That kid may have been an arrogant shmuck, but he had discipline. Heck, Gai's team is basically a well-disciplined unit. Kakashi really did have problems with your team."
Seemingly getting ticked off that he got compared to a more seasoned genin team, Naruto decided to get back to the topic at hand while Jiraiya gave him another talk about discipline and whatnot.
"What's that got to do with not going to that place you're talking about, Ero-sennin? And didn't you say I'm undisciplined too much that I can't learn about a specific Taijutsu style?"
Jiraiya twitched at his nickname, "It has to do with the fact that staying still is a pre-requisite to your training there. You need to have patience for these things brat, because believe me, the training I'm about to give you there will test your patience at its limit. I did say you were undisciplined, brat. You also have the grace of a sack of hammers, Naruto. But believe me that what I'm about to teach you is something that will earn you a lot of lumps on your empty head."
With that, Naruto and Jiraiya began their spar.
Konoha, several months later:
Neji felt it quite right to take a mission now to take his mind off of his current dilemma in his jutsu. Currently, he has had small progress in using Raiton Chakra and the most he could do was emulate once more what he had done several months prior during his fight with Tenten against Kidoumaru.
He can surge lightning chakra to someone's tenketsu and not only could he close it, he could also affect the surrounding area and adjacent tenketsu to disturb chakra flow and cause involuntary muscle spasms.
At least he could in theory. He had understood how to apply it. He just didn't have the luxury to do it against anyone else for fear of accidentally causing conduction problems on the heart.
"Ah, Neji-san, is that you?"
A voice had cut him out of his thoughts as he saw Izumo and Kotetsu going up to the Hokage's office with a stack of papers that were obscuring their faces. The only reason he had recognized the two was because of their voices and they always seemingly stick around each other.
Neji bowed slightly, "Izumo-san, Kotetsu-san, to what do I owe the pleasure of you calling me?"
The one on the left spoke, "Well, we just checked one of the papers lined up here and we were surprised that your name came up for recommendation for Jounin. We know it's almost been a year since your promotion, but we think Gai-san has been gauging your abilities quite well since you were genin. It's a real surprise that he would put your name this early on."
"Thank you for informing me, Izumo-san, Kotetsu-san, though I must decline for now, I fear that I am not ready to take such a position."
Izumo and Kotetsu looked at each other and then to Neji as Kotetsu answered, "No one is truly ready to take the position of Jounin, Neji-san. Though it would not surprise me if you become one in a few years, after all, you learn very fast and understand concepts really well. Uchiha Sasuke is already finishing up his training in ANBU in a few weeks, you can be sure that once he gets out of that organization, he'll at least be at Jounin level as well."
"That is Kakashi's unit for you. The man can act lazy and unmotivated at times, but when he does things, he does not half-ass his way about it. Apparently, he's passed his talent on to his three students." Izumo commented with a smirk.
"If there's no other thing to say to me, then I thank you for your time, Izumo-san, Kotetsu-san. But I need to take a mission to clear my mind for a problem I have been having."
Neji bowed and went about his way towards the Hokage office for a mission.
He had expected for Chuunin to have much more interesting jobs compared to Genin who were often stuck with doing menial labor like farming at the town outskirts. He had his fair share of frustration with his time as Genin as well and he could remember retrieving that hellish demon incarnate by the name of Tora.
He remembered how the daimyo's wife kept choking the thing as if it was his only sense of satisfaction with the stupid mission.
Indeed, doing chores as missions? Neji felt insulted.
But as time moved on and his exposure to the life of a shinobi becoming apparent, Neji grew appreciative of these missions. Chores meant less conflict, lesser deaths they had to deal with and more peace. He had gotten a taste of war during the invasion of sound and sand and even though he was limited in fighting, he participated in escorting frightened civilians to safety.
Needless to say, he had grown much appreciative of the mundane from time to time.
Tsunade had given him little regard as she handed him with a mission scroll from the pile of C-Ranks that was piling up a little to her left. She was reading a piece of paper in her hand as Tsunade told him, "Pass this on to Hiashi once you've finished with your mission today, tell him that the next time he asks for favours, he should make sure that the reward goes down first next time. I can't spare another of my newly minted chuunin for another break. Kurenai's whole team and Chouza's kid should be enough."
Neji bowed at her as she left the room and met up with his client asking for an escort to the nearby town.
At day's end, he would get back to Konoha just in time for meeting up with Lee and Tenten.
He would never say it outright but he enjoyed meeting up with his team to chat from time to time. It made him more connected to the people outside his clan. And to him, a branch member who has supposedly no future inside the clan, the outside support that he had was something very helpful to him. He could be there to unwind and not let the overbearing traditions of the Hyuuga clan invade his thoughts every now and then.
"I heard Kiba asked for a leave a few days ago and that was why no one's seen him in the village yet." Tenten remarked as she ate her bowl of cold soba noodles.
"Strange, Hinata-sama took Hanabi-sama to one of her mother's old home to the south yesterday. She had been fretting that she had hit a wall in her training and Hiashi-sama had asked the Hokage for her leave as well. I think she is near Wave Country at this point. He had said it was necessary for Hinata-sama and Hanabi-sama to learn the history of her mother's clan." Neji remarked as he set the tea near to him.
Lee had raised an eyebrow at this, "Are you not supposed to be with them, Neji? Surely Hiashi-sama would not just send anyone out with his two daughters away from Konoha like that even if Hinata-sama is a capable chuunin."
"Ko-san is with them." Neji replied before drinking his tea, "And Hinata-sama is no slouch as a fighter. I would daresay that she is more ruthless than me when it comes to fighting an opponent these days."
Tenten shuddered at that, "I saw her match at the Chuunin exam, I'm glad I didn't fight her. Her opponent from Kumo was asking for it, though."
Neji replied at that, "Kumo always asks for it. There is bad blood between Kumo shinobi and the Hyuuga in general."
"That or Hinata snapped when that Kumo shinobi insulted her boyfriend even if he didn't know Naruto." Tenten replied with a nervous smile.
Neji seemed to smirk at that, "Indeed, Hinata-sama is a lioness when it comes to him. It amuses me to think that Hinata-sama could do that to those dastardly shinobi from Kumo."
"What really surprised me was that Sasuke-kun took part in the exam too, isn't he in ANBU now?" Lee asked, looking up as he ate his spicy curry.
Tenten shrugged, "From what I've heard he's close to finish his course as a trainee. He just needed the chuunin title to make it official on his record that he joined ANBU when he became chuunin. Apparently, if your sensei is a former member and unit commander of the ANBU, you could recommend someone even as a genin."
She frowned at that last statement and shook her head, "Team Seven and its damned connections, I swear…"
"It's not like Gai-sensei isn't keeping up, though. He's already put my name up as a nominee for Jounin." Neji said this as he took another sip of his tea.
Lee and Tenten raised an eyebrow at this with Tenten asking, "And you were going to tell us, when?"
Neji had a bead of sweat at the back of his head for this, "As soon as it came up, actually, I didn't know about it either until this morning when Izumo and Kotetsu informed about it and showed me the form Gai-sensei submitted. But to be honest, I don't think I am quite ready for it. I'm sure Hokage-sama would reject that request."
Tenten still having her eyebrow raised asked him, "What gives, though? You're plenty good enough, as it is. You think you still have to master your Raiton ability?"
Neji gave a nod, "I have yet to fully explore the abilities of Raiton chakra. Kakashi-sensei gave a demonstration a few days ago and I wish to learn from him. There are still things I need to understand. Though he has given me enough pointers and I've read some books about some of its most useful applications. I think I can do it by the end of the year."
Lee gave Neji a thumbs-up, "Go for it, Neji! You'll be a jounin in no time!"
His rival gave a smile, "While I thank you for your encouragement, Lee. I think we've had enough for today. Let's get home for some rest, shall we?"
"Yeah, and I have to go back to the research lab, I finally found the ore that we were looking for to finish that new weapon we're making."
And pretty soon they all went their separate ways, enjoying the day relaxing. Neji didn't know why and when he started to like the mundane routines more and more, but the interactions he had been having with his team left something very profound to him.
As he walked towards the Hyuuga Clan's compound, he began to have thoughts once more on his problem and how to solve it.
This was what he had been missing his entire life? Compared to his older attitude towards this interaction, Neji had seemed to miss a lot of things when he was younger.
'I'm only fourteen going to fifteen yet I already think like an old man.'
Neji thought in amusement as he went away, but not before stopping when he had noticed something.
"Tenten." Neji only said as Tenten appeared from the shade of a tree with a smile on her face.
"I decided to drop by to let you know Lee has a certain someone that is quite eye-catching. You might think that, with his attitude, he would go after Sakura until she said yes or she gets married. I guess not, anymore."
Neji raised an eyebrow at that, "I fail to notice this peculiarity, I have seen Lee and Yakumo-san several times every afternoon for almost a year. This would be nothing surprising."
Tenten's jaw dropped at this revelation. Neji knew about Lee and Yakumo? And he didn't even tell her about it?
"You are surprised you are finding about it now?" Neji asked and Tenten gritted her teeth out of frustration. Neji couldn't understand what on earth Tenten was fussing about.
"Of course, I'm surprised! You didn't even tell me! Maybe we could have set them up…" Neji cut her off at that moment.
"I was aware that what exists between Lee and Yakumo-san is merely platonic. There's no need to discuss matters like it when nothing has even been stirring between the two, not like what happened between Hinata-sama and Naruto."
Tenten raised an eyebrow at this, "Huh? Where'd you get that idea? If he's willing to go the extra mile just for exercises instead of training himself, wouldn't that be suspicious?"
Neji gave a reply as he looked towards the setting sun, "Tenten, we are talking about Lee. Lee's actions aren't what we'd consider subtle. In Naruto's case, he didn't have full understanding of his own emotions for Hinata-sama, which is why it took that long for them to be open about it. Lee doesn't have that naivety in his actions concerning matters of romance."
Tenten raised an eyebrow at it, "Since when could you talk about stuff like, ugh, romance?"
Apparently, Tenten could be tomboyish whenever she wanted to be. And the idea of having such a disgustingly sweet atmosphere around her team was quite something she didn't find cute at all.
From what Neji could tell, Tenten's definition of cute revolved around something that is sharp, black, silver, gold or dirty grey and one that could definitely bisect or bludgeon a grown man to death.
If there was a girl fanatic with weird tastes that doesn't involve boys, then it was Tenten.
"Since I've observed a lot of people in this village interact. It is very hard to keep my mind from thinking of many things when I am idle. Asuma-sensei had suggested that it was in part due to how wired my brain is in thinking about many things. Perhaps it is the nature of the beast to be like this. I don't know, but Shikamaru seems to have a better grasp of this condition. To look at every little thing and looking at it as an outsider trying to break it down to a level I can understand. Sometimes, I find it disturbing for me to be thinking like that for so long."
Tenten tilted her head to the side as she put her hands on her waist before she gave a sigh.
"It must be hard living everyday with your mind forcing you in analysing people. I probably would go insane from the mere thought alone."
Neji gave an amused smile, "Didn't you say you were perfectly fine with a team of 'basket cases'?"
Tenten chuckled at that as she looked up with her hands now behind her head, "Yeah, I did. I'm fine with it, I guess. But you still need to keep an eye out for Lee like I will."
Neji raised an eyebrow at this, "And why is that?"
"Because we don't know when things get serious between those two." Tenten replied, she was looking out for Lee overall too in her own way.
Neji gave a nod, "I see. I'll try to make time to see what the fuss will be all about then."
When Neji arrived at the compound, the first stop that he did was to visit Hiashi and told him of Tsunade's advice. The patriarch of the Hyuuga clan gave a wordless nod and grabbed a scroll from his work desk. But before Neji walked away, Hiashi had spoken, stopping Neji in his tracks.
"I have learned that you are researching elemental training with Kakashi-san to incorporate with your Jyuuken."
Neji asked him, "Is it not something to be done in our house, Hiashi-sama?"
Hiashi shook his head, "Far from it. Stagnation is the enemy of any clan. 'To stagnate is to fall from grace' that is what I think. The Uchiha clan had fallen due to their failure to grow. Before the massacre, I thought of our traditions need not changing but I was terribly wrong. When Itachi had slain his entire clan except for young Sasuke, it made me realize that I do not wish for the Hyuuga to befall the same fate."
Neji gave a sigh of relief, "I appreciate that you approve of my decision, Hiashi-sama."
Hiashi then unfurled the scroll and said as he wrote, "Change is a gradual process, whether it is for the greater good or evil, we know not. But if we do not change, then failure is almost always inevitable."
He then continued, "And that kind of failure, to not change under the burdening circumstances of time, is one that is always easily remedied but too late to be noticed."
Hiashi let the ink dry on the scroll as he looked outside. He glanced at the sunset from his window before he leaned back to his chair.
"Neji, continue to support Hinata and her sister. They are the change that the Hyuuga will inevitably fall into and you will be their catalyst."
Neji bowed to Hiashi at that as he asked his uncle, "Is this your order for me, Hiashi-sama?"
Hiashi nodded, "My last order to you as your uncle. Consider it your mission to be the one to support Hinata and Hanabi. I have yet to see the both of them show traits of leadership. But you do, Neji. That is why you are vital to the clan. Your decisiveness and your discerning attitude will be the factor in which will set that change in motion and will steer to where it will lead us."
Neji readily answered his uncle with a nod, "I accept."
Hiashi, for a long while, smiled.
Once Neji had arrived in his room he plopped down to his bed and he looked up and stared at the ceiling. Many thoughts were swirling in his mind as he remained in that bed. With fatigue eluding him, Neji decided to do something that was out of his character.
He went out of his room and climbed to the roof and looked at the stars appearing in that early night sky. Those tiny points in his vision reminded him of tenketsu.
'Narukami (To Become Lightning), huh?' He had heard of that play before. It was probably one of the most watched plays in the capital since his visit there. The daimyo was very fond of the play and even invited his team to watch. Not wishing to displease the most powerful man in the country in the political sense, Gai had to accept the invitation.
The play itself resounded in him. The themes were suggestive, sure, very raunchy and sensual, in fact. But he had noticed the struggle of the hermit not to fall from grace and into temptation. He watched as the titular character, Narukami, slowly succumbing to wiles of Taema-hime, regains his power in a fit of rage as the imprisoned dragon god was set free by the woman thus turning into Raijin, the old god of thunder. It was all very theatrical and the kabuki players were dressed very elaborately. But the underlying message of it all moved him.
He sat up suddenly, an epiphany crossing his mind as he looked at his hands and opened his Byakugan.
'The answer was right before me, all along.'
With that, Neji went to bed, eager to start a new day earlier so that he can practice a new concept in his training.
The next morning, Neji was in training ground seven where Kakashi was as he was on rotation right now to teach some of his peers for their elemental training. Today, it seemed like Sasuke was taking a break from his ANBU duties and training with Kakashi for more elemental jutsu. Neji approached them and Sasuke raised an eyebrow at the Hyuuga and then looked back to Kakashi who didn't seem surprised by Neji's visit.
"Do you have an idea for your jutsu?" Kakashi asked, Neji gave a nod and Sasuke looked at his teacher about what jutsu they were talking about.
"It's a good thing Sasuke is here seeing he and I are both have affinities for lightning chakra. He can give inputs on what I may have missed."
Sasuke looked at Kakashi seriously and asked, "Are you seriously asking me for an appraisal on a technique that hasn't been created yet?"
Kakashi looked at Sasuke and smiled beneath his mask, "You have been using Raiton chakra for one and a half year, Sasuke. I think your experience is enough."
Sasuke then shrugged and then looked at Neji, "What do you have in mind?"
Neji simply answered, "A way to improve my skills in Jyuuken while using Raiton Chakra."
Sasuke looked at Neji dumbly and then back to Kakashi for a second before he said, "Isn't that too broad? Aside from my offensive capabilities of using Raiton, I hardly know what can supplement taijutsu with elemental affinities unless I can incapacitate my opponent, like my Chidori: Nagashi (Chirping of a Thousand Birds: Stream)."
"Something to that effect, from what I gather, only a way to improve the chances in connecting to an opponent. If you want a point of reference, the Raikage might be your answer."
Sasuke seemed to think about this. It would be good to study about such a technique, but he already has the perfect speed related technique that he learned from Uchiha Shisui's ability, the Shunshin that his deceased clan member had created was such an improvement to the normal jutsu that if it took Shisui a few years more, he could've had the speed to rival even the Yondaime Hokage, said to be even faster than that monstrous man that people call the Raikage. Sasuke was still nowhere near that.
"That is indeed a good way to supplement his Taijutsu, but to do that you must conduct the electrical pulse inside your body and configure it to a level that isn't harmful."
Neji answered well enough, "I already have the idea on how to do it. My only concern is what will be the reaction and how much chakra I need for it to surge around my body."
Neji activated his Byakugan just as his hands began surging with electrical currents created by his chakra.
The sparks of current caught Sasuke's attention as he noticed Neji's prowess with the element. Kakashi had said to him that Neji never had an affinity for Lightning. In fact, Neji had the affinity that Lightning trumped in the elemental wheel, Earth.
To see someone stubbornly trying to learn lightning and then succeeding with very little effort was something Sasuke recognized as a pinnacle of ability.
'If I left, I would not be witnessing those who will be able to gauge my strength. Neji, you are a terrifying genius just like him.' The darker thoughts of his brother crossed his mind for a second but he let it go. Neji was far different than his brother could ever be. Or at least, that's what Sasuke was hoping.
"What are you going to do with them?" Sasuke asked and Neji grinned at them before he spoke.
"I will apply charges on the opposite ends of my tenketsu, create lines of electrical current like a circuit and lighting them up to surge throughout my body. Internally, it would stimulate my body to do more. But that is all I can do for now."
Kakashi was now listening intently. For all intents and purposes, this was a jutsu that was complicated by nature. Understanding such simple theories and applying them in complex ways surely made Neji a genius by his own right.
Neji then looked to his hands that were now on each other.
As if he was about to hit a tenketsu, he closed the ring and the small fingers as did his thumbs and aimed the point of electricity, now shining and sparking at the tip of his index an middle fingers over his wrists. To anyone else, it would look like Neji was performing a very weird hand sign.
Without further ado, Neji plunged the lightning chakra inside his tenketsu and immediately, the surge quickly took over travelling at the speed of light all throughout his entire chakra network. His hair raised up a little and crackled as a field of electricity exited his entire body by a good two meters. Neji could see his body supercharge to a degree as the currents of small lightning bolts moved to and fro in his body with his wrists serving as a hub for it with the tenketsu glowing frantically.
Everything seemed to slow down for him and there was no pain he felt even though he anticipated it.
Kakashi was about to grab a kunai and place it to ground to absorb the lightning that Neji was emitting but he was stopped when Neji appeared in front of out of nowhere and grabbed his wrist. Kakashi couldn't react in time to give a proper counter when the surge had stopped and Neji seemed to be back to normal again.
Kakashi remained cautious. He had thought Neji inducing himself with electricity was very reckless and even dangerous. Yet, Neji understood lightning like nobody else, especially his lightning.
Neji panted as he plopped down on the ground with Sasuke looking surprised at him as well.
"That speed, I could not even react fast enough to reach him nor could my sharingan keep track of him." Sasuke muttered as his red eyes glowed and tried to recall the events before Neji ultimately stopped Kakashi from absorbing the lightning and planting it on the ground.
"I'm sorry… I reacted before I even knew it."
Kakashi seemed confused, "You weren't stopping me because you could?"
Neji shook his head, "Everything just went too fast before I could even register what was going on."
Kakashi concluded that the electric field that Neji emitted around him wasn't going to do much like Sasuke to his surroundings, but the field that Neji created gave him a sense of invasion and his body quickly acted upon it even with Neji's confusion.
"Sasuke's Chidori Nagashi acts by paralyzing opponents. Neji's use of lightning is to act as a detector of anything hostile and perform a counter faster than a blink of an eye. It is quite impressive for a new jutsu there, Neji."
Neji gave a nod, "I figured if I made a charge on equal ends of my tenketsu, I could create a circuit that would be used as a focal point in releasing electricity and using them as hubs as they travel from one end to another and going back. I am very surprised to see the results."
Sasuke walked over to them as he said, "I'd daresay that jutsu you pulled was very surprising. Truth be told, I only expected that you would do something opposite for your first trial. I guess I don't really give geniuses enough credit to get it right in the first time."
Neji raised an eyebrow at this, "The desired results were not met. I am still far and a ways away from fully mastering this new jutsu."
Neji then stood up and dusted himself off.
"But you have your desired effect. I don't see how much help I can further add to this." Sasuke mentioned while Kakashi gave a nod.
"True. My advice, Neji, is that you should explore more on how to do this. You must get used to the feeling of your jutsu. All that really needs tweaking is your ability to react."
A squawk of an avian raptor brought Kakashi and Sasuke out of their musings as they looked up. Neji noticed as well and the three of them looked at each other.
"It looks like we'll be tweaking your jutsu for some other time, Neji-kun. Hokage-sama is calling me out for a mission." Kakashi replied before vanishing in a cloud of smoke.
Sasuke merely began his walk back to his compound as he said, "I have other businesses to attend to. I was about to ask Kakashi about something but it seemed I figured it out on my own by watching your work, Hyuuga. I want to test your skill someday."
Neji merely gave a nod as he went back to his compound, now thinking of something to help him achieve the necessary effect of his new jutsu.
In a few months' time, Neji would be repeatedly performing this jutsu on his own, testing its limits as well as his own and extending it even further. He had realized that if he puts enough concentration in certain areas, his body performs faster than desired and he can speed up if he chooses to apply the electrical current to the soles of his feet. He can run faster, so fast that his vision began blurring if he exceeded his current speed. He did not have the sharingan to perfectly predict movements and stop himself from having any tunnel vision, but such risks were mitigated by the simple fact that his opponent wouldn't react fast enough to even put up a proper guard and Neji had the advantage of the Byakugan to render all physical defences useless by a mere touch of the tenketsu.
He had called this technique, Kanmuru (God Speed), certainly grandiose in name, it was a jutsu that could potentially live up to its said potential. With it activated, Neji became like what he had thought about all those days ago, like lightning.
Now though, he was assigned with jounin sensei Asuma and Tenten as they were called on to a mission to suppress the riots that were beginning to make waves from Konoha's maximum security prison. He had heard that one of his former teachers, Mizuki, was imprisoned there because of an attempt to steal the forbidden scroll of seals and for treasonous actions by divulging deep government secrets.
That would have certainly been something to be a sentence to death, but for some reason, the village kept him alive probably because he had been suspected to be working with one of the village's biggest threats, Orochimaru.
So keeping Mizuki alive was an asset to the village, at least for now. But it would probably turn to something else if they find out that they have no further use for the man. Certainly, being stuck there for almost two years, he must be at the end of his rope and his sanity.
It was why he now stood before his former teacher while Asuma dealt with the problematic with a pair of twins that were almost impossible to hurt. He looked at Mizuki who certainly bulked up from being in prison for too long and a special formula in his hands that changed his appearance to a very vicious and grotesque looking humanoid tiger.
He sneered at Neji as he spoke to him, "It has been a while, Neji. I take it you're now chuunin? How close are you in becoming a jounin?"
Neji did not speak. He did not even go into his gentle fist stance.
"You know, you were one of my star pupils back in the day. You were quiet, smart and perceptive of the world, much like how I was. I knew without a doubt that someone like you would go places in life."
Neji raised an eyebrow, "If your goal is to sway my sympathy, Mizuki-sensei, then you should already know the outcome of this."
Mizuki merely shook his head, "No, no, I'm not trying to garner your sympathy, Neji. Merely, I actually feel sorry for you. You are stuck in your position as a branch member of the Hyuuga, forever wallowing in that position with no means to soar your wings. You're stuck there and you will never know the world beyond your own borders. Ironic isn't it? Those that are gifted with a doujutsu that can see far beyond any human cannot see the entire picture of how closed that world of his and he shall forever be stuck there. You don't know how good it is to have that freedom and have a path meant for a greater purpose and become great yourself."
Mizuki then scowled as he punched a tree and it fell down due to sheer force that Mizuki had applied to it, "But there are those who are simply just monsters to begin with, beings that are far, far more capable of much more cruelties than me. Yet they let it roam the streets as if he was a stray dog and expose him to emotions that would be like a ticking bomb waiting to happen. Can you honestly blame me for doing what is necessary? I should be hero and not a criminal!"
Neji remained silent as Mizuki continued, "That's right, you already know, don't you? He's a monster, that boy. He has the ability to sink this village down to the ground if he so pleases and he had just turned chuunin. For someone like that, to even be considered to a rank the same as I am… It pisses me off!"
Neji knew what or exactly who Mizuki was talking about, "If you are talking about Naruto-san, then he is deserving of his rank. He has the skills and the attitude to become a chuunin, perhaps even more so given his current abilities."
Mizuki growled, the snarl of a tiger ever present within him, "Don't give me this unbiased bullshit that you're spewing! You've let that monster elevate to a level where you could trust him with a rank but do remember that he will one day cast away that trust and become something that you will ultimately hate and fear."
"Just like what you are doing now?" Neji retorted
Mizuki scowled, "There are times when we do what we must for the sake of survival. My logic dictates that survival trumps moralistic obligations. I'm sure you have an idea of what it is."
Neji answered as he now went to his jyuuken stance, fully comprehending his former sensei's words, "Indeed, fear is a motivator of many things. It motivates us to cling to life all the same. It is the ultimate emotion of survival. Yet it is fear that holds us back, they limit us on what we can actually do beyond fear."
His Byakugan flared to life as the veins around his eyes and cheeks protruded and he stared at Mizuki's chakra.
"To have closed your eyes to the world and not see everything is the height of fear and hypocrisy. You lecture me of looking beyond the plains of my own village, yet you can't even see past your own prejudices. I have grown beyond such means, Mizuki-sensei, and my views have completely changed since I have fought alongside Naruto. You have no right to say those words against him if you yourself are willing to become the monster that you fear."
Mizuki growled and grabbed the big shuriken from his back and tossed it straight at Neji. With the added effect of the serum he had taken, Mizuki's strength doubled and as such, the speed and strength of his weapon was increased. It whizzed by Neji quick enough that Neji ducked as the spinning metal spun above him before it cleaved several trees from behind.
Mizuki was quick to capitalize on that momentary distraction as he appeared just in front of Neji, claws drawn out already in mid swing, the angle of his attack would severely cut his face off where it not for his immediate correction of his body and jumped back just in time for the swipe to miss.
Mizuki growled and gave a roar so powerful that it sent a shockwave straight at Neji who was immediately thrown back from the force. Neji shielded his face from the incoming attack as he had no time to judge and soon activated his Byakugan as he was sent careening in the air.
'This is as good a time as any.' Neji thought.
He then gestured his palms in a horizontal and opposite direction, palm directly pointing to palm and then his middle and index fingers were stretched out with his remaining digits closed. Neji was pointing to his pulse as lightning began to crackle madly just as Mizuki was about to charge at him with claws drawn out once more, this time, with a thrusting manoeuvre as if he was about to deliver a death blow.
'I won't let you…'
BZZT!
BZZT!
BZZT!
Neji soon vanished within a flash and just as quickly appeared beside Mizuki with his middle and index fingers tapping on the former teacher's outstretched hand.
What happened next was instantaneous, one of Mizuki's forearm tenketsu was wide open and now bore a hole straight to the other side.
Blood flew everywhere as Mizuki felt it late to register the pain of having something put a hole through and through his arm.
"AHH!" Mizuki howled as Neji spoke, "Naruto-san has taught me to fight my destiny, to fight against my cage and see what is beyond the iron bars of my own pathetic cell. This is one of those results, combining jyuuken with an elemental affinity, enhancing it to a point where I am nearly untouchable. This is Kanmuru (Godspeed) and what you have experienced with Kanmuru, is Shippu Jinrai (Hurricane Swift Thunder)."
Now Neji returned to his Jyuuken stance as the lightning arcs surging around him began concentrating on his feet and he crouched down.
"Don't get cocky!" Mizuki shouted and jumped in the air and with his good arm, gathered chakra on it sending a shockwave of three highly pressurized winds shaped like claws. But Neji was prepared, he had leaned forward and disappeared just as the waves of chakra claws were about to make contact with his face. Time seemed to slow down for both Neji and Mizuki as the Hyuuga prodigy vanished in less than a second and reappeared just to his front his right palm already in mid-swing.
"Hakke Kushou (Eight Trigrams: Air Palm)!"
Then a wave of vacuum air had hit him dead on the stomach as he was slightly pushed from their last area. Mizuki had no time to assess the situation as he felt something heavy above him. He glanced up, as he couldn't lift his head, he growled as Neji disappeared once more only to appear to his left and began bombarding him with finger strikes straight to his abdomen with Neji disappearing and reappearing all around him so fast, performing the Hakkerokujuuyonsho only took him a fourth of the time he had done at his best in his normal state.
Mizuki fell on one knee gasping for breath as he hung his head low and blood seeped from the former points of Tenketsu that the Hyuuga prodigy just obliterated with a touch of his fingers. Neji stood before him, lightning crackling all around his body, his hair fizzled as the energy coursed through them. Neji simply glowed from the ionic charges from his chakra nature while the arcs of plasma encircled around him, forming a field of electricity to burn away those that would enter its realm.
"You have never understood your own fear. You never once tried to conquer it. Merely, you let it control you. And once you were thoroughly afraid, you resorted to means that would put you on the same level as what you supposedly hated. From that moment on, you have given yourself up to fear completely. You are an insult to Naruto-san, Mizuki-sensei. He has fought hard, tooth and nail, to become one of the most respected ninjas in this village. My loss against him is proof of his strength of character. He conquered his own fear and refused to fall against all odds. You never had that courage. You only had hatred to guide you. I actually pity you, Mizuki-sensei." Neji said this as he reeled his left hand back and chakra flared around his palm.
"From the start, you had nothing and you will continue to have that in the end, nothing. You have lost not to me, but to your own fear. That bitterness within you will continue to be with you, because you have not opened your own eyes."
Neji then struck Mizuki at the chest just as the tiger-like features receded and his chakra system suddenly began collapsing in on itself.
Before Mizuki could say anything, he coughed out so much blood that his entire chin was tainted with the red fluid and it flowed down to his body.
"Someday… You will see… That monster will come for you all." Mizuki stated weakly and raspy just as his heart gave in.
And with that, Mizuki fell to the ground, the last of his breath left him. The agony of having his entire chakra system being burned escaped him just as Neji closed his eyes.
"If that day truly comes, then it will be the time that I will feel TRUE betrayal, Naruto followed the will of those who truly hated him and he has succumbed to that destiny, but until then, I will continue to believe in what he has taught me. I will conquer my own destiny."
Neji had taught about many things before he had decided to kill Mizuki, about his knowledge about Orochimaru, about the serum he had taken, about many of the assets that the snake had left lying around the village out of sheer arrogance. It was then that Neji concluded that Mizuki was not part of something bigger, he was nothing more than a disposable pawn, a mere thug compared to the ranks of Kabuto and possibly the sound ninjas that they had fought nearly two years ago. The intelligence department only got out as much data as they could. Mizuki was either to rot in his cell forever or be executed anyway. He was living in borrowed time.
Perhaps Mizuki knew about that, it was why he wanted to escape. He wanted to get away from certain death.
The irony of it was not lost on Neji. Mizuki fought against his fate, just like he did, but Mizuki could not escape his.
Hokage Tower:
Tsunade looked at the mission reports filed by Sarutobi Asuma and she turned to glance at Neji and then at Tenten who remained still. She put the folder down and asked Asuma.
"I am to assume that the Fuujin-Raijin brothers were dealt with swiftly?" Tsunade asked, Asuma gave a nod as he continued, "They were not much trouble, Hokage-sama. Tenten managed to save the day for that one."
Tsunade gave a knowing smile as she then looked at Neji, "How are you holding up, Neji? Did Mizuki give you any trouble?"
Neji gave a simple answer, "His statements and actions have only reinforced in what I was planning to do with him, Hokage-sama . He knows nothing. And that serum he has taken was nothing more than a steroid that causes permanent damage to the chakra pathways. A very crude and very unsafe form of the cursed seal, there's nothing remaining of it after it burned Mizuki-sensei's entire chakra pathways. With or without the tenketsu being damaged, he would have died regardless."
Tsunade gave a grim nod of her head as she said, "I suspected as much, still, it would have been nice to have that bastard die slowly and painfully after everything that he did. The only leverage he had was Orochimaru, and even that was very sparse compared to what we have gained throughout our intelligence divisions and the cursed seal information we have is more informative than that crude formula. It's probably just a prototype that was thrown away."
A moment of silence escaped the office as Tsunade arranged the papers in her hand, "Asuma, Tenten, you're free to go, Neji, you stay behind, we have much to discuss."
Asuma gave a nod as did Tenten, but not before looking at Neji for a second and then leaving with Asuma as well, obviously concerned for her teammate as well.
"I've been meaning to think about your rank for some time now, Maito Gai has been insistent about you and your teammates' ranks ever since he found out Kakashi's student just got accepted officially into ANBU a while ago."
Neji seemed surprised at this, but Neji decided to remain calm just as Tsunade gave an annoyed look, "I swear your teacher is a stubborn bull most of the time and after that whole fiasco of dramatic reading in front of the entire village after losing a bet, I swear I should reconsider what that man says from his mouth, but I just can't seem to find anything wrong with what he keeps on saying about your team, especially you."
Tsunade looked at Neji's expression, it was very minute, but she could tell that Neji was surprised, Tsunade merely smiled and said, "You shouldn't be surprised by it, after all, I've been giving it a lot of consideration and I found out that not only are you capable of holding the rank, but mentally, you are just as prepared for it as well. I'm sure you will fit in with this new responsibility."
Neji remained silent as Tsunade stamped his promotional papers and she handed it over to him.
"Now go report to your uncle, tell him the good news."
With that, Neji left the office and went back to the Hyuuga clan grounds. He was greeted by his relatives with a bow and approached the office of his uncle with disbelief still in his eyes.
When he had talked to his uncle, Hiashi couldn't help but give out a small smile as he looked outside the window.
"Neji, you cannot believe of how much it assures me of our future with you there, with your cousins. The clan will survive and it will live on well past my time, you, Hinata and Hanabi, you three are the hope of this clan and you will lead it to a change for the better. For that, I am proud to have watched your growth, for better or worse."
Neji, finally spoke for the first time, "Is it why you have sent Hinata-sama on her own training trip as well?"
Hiashi nodded, "What I wanted for Hinata was to reconnect with the roots of her mother's heritage. My wife was from a clan that was said to have been the guardians of Ootsuki Hamura's writings and teachings. They were a clan that was driven to extinction by the same methods that we are doing now. They couldn't adapt to change and so, isolated themselves to obscurity. My wife was the last member of that clan to have gone to the outside world as we were the last line of connections that her clan had for centuries. I am afraid that with her gone, the ways of her clan goes along with her. In order for my wife's will to live on, I had asked Hinata to learn more about her mother and not just to help her overcome her wall."
Hiashi then put his hands behind his back as he looked outside, "I have never been a good father to her. I have pushed her by stepping on her confidence and trampling on her emotions. I didn't see the impact of what I had done, especially her relationship with her sister until Uzumaki Naruto came to her life. She does not want to be the heir yet she seeks to be acknowledged by me and wants to maintain her relationship with her little sister. I had a hard time just thinking about what to do in order to prevent the elders from marking her with the cursed seal."
"I have already failed twice, once with you and then with your father. I do not want to have a third mistake at the cost of the life of my daughter. It was then that I realized that what matters more than legacies and traditions is family. No matter what happens to us, change is bound to happen sooner than later. I want Hyuuga to be strong, to weather the storm of this change and come out better. It is why I had to do what I had to do. Someday Neji, my daughters will grow up and they will marry. I want you to be there for them if I were to die sooner than expected. I want them to be happy, I want you to be free from this."
Neji watched as Hiashi looked at the small picture on his desk, the image of his family, his wife, his daughters and him, all in one picture.
"But most of all, I do not want more families being broken apart by age old traditions that have no place in the future."
With that, Neji solemnly took in all of uncle's words and took them to heart. He was now a jounin, his responsibilities now were bigger than it was before and he would proudly carry this title with pride.
He had entered his room, the sun was very much still out, but he could tell it was about to set.
He looked up to the blue skies above him, not a single cloud could cover them today. The day was clearer than most days he had seen today.
A small smile escaped his lips that day, for he had earned his most valued treasure.
He had earned his freedom.
With Naruto:
Naruto learned how to remain still several months ago and now, Jiraiya was teaching him to sense chakra that was all around him. The ambient energy Jiraiya had been telling him about was Natural Chakra, the life force of the very planet.
He had come into the conclusion that this was one of the things Jiraiya was talking about. If he could enter sage mode, he would be much, much stronger than most other shinobi. Jiraiya had said that being a sage was being akin to a god, earth's very own herald given physical form.
He remained still as he emptied his mind, nature chakra was ambient, very calm yet it had the density much more potent than regular chakra.
He had been learning to sense it for several weeks now and so far, he had been progressing by leaps and bounds.
His thoughts were suddenly cut off, when he had entered the realm of the bijuu and he stood up.
"What's going on here?"
Then, just behind him, he could see the static of a boy just about his height, platinum blonde hair gracing his youthful appearance who had a full line of stitching just below his left eye and lining his left cheek blurring and reforming again and again, beside him Asura looked worried.
This person looked haggard from what he could tell, there were wounds and scabs littering his body, his clothes were in tatters, as if he looked like a vagabond. He was kneeling on the ground, head hung low with chains pulling on his arms sideways as he remained there, almost motionless. Behind him was a large three tailed beast that looked grotesquely like a turtle with one eye visible from the jagged maws of its head.
"Who are you?" Naruto asked and Asura looked at the three tailed beast.
"Isobu?"
The three tailed being looked down at Asura, a look of surprise made its way on to Isobu's face as he said to the man standing beside Naruto.
"Asura?"
"Am I to assume he is your host, Isobu?" Asura asked and then, finally, the shackled boy spoke to them.
"In my hour of despair, I must be hallucinating. For now, there are people standing before me with the Kyuubi standing behind them. Tell me, Isobu, why is this happening?"
The three tailed beast gave a curt reply, "Well, you wanted someone to talk to other than me in your final hours. It has been sometime since you have shown that kind of innocence and sincerity ever since your encounter with that masked man. Even if you were the Yondaime Mizukage, you are still as human as can be, Yagura."
To be continued…
Living on or near the pacific ring of fire and storm capital can be a bitch. I'm sorry to have kept you waiting, but duty and life made sure that I had to be busy in more ways than one. It was awful as you can already tell, Dengue season struck and not only that, super typhoons and earthquakes just happened in a simultaneous fashion. I just got back home just yesterday and now I'm being sent back AGAIN to the hospital the afternoon after today.
Anyway, I'll update in a few days or the few weeks. Again, I apologize to have kept you waiting.
Neji's Jutsu list:
Kanmuru Kanmuru- Godspeed (神速) – A-rank - a technique that creates two polar points of electricity throughout two specific tenketsu points. Surges of electrical currents increase the physical capacity of the jutsu user. Depending on the flow of currents and the will of the user, he can perform attacks so quick that it would look like he is doing them simultaneously or he could counter enemies faster than anything. This jutsu was based off of Yoshihiro Togashi's character in Hunter x Hunter, Killua Zoldyck.
Two jutsu fall under this technique and they are:
Shippu Jinrai- Hurricane Swift Thunder (疾風迅雷) – Neji can detect the flow of electricity within his proximity and his body automatically reacts to perform a counter.
Denkosekka- Speed of Lightning (電光石火) – Neji can run almost as fast as real lightning itself, with this speed, he can whip out attacks so fast that they will look like his jutsu are in conjunction
