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Chapter 18

White Eye, White Ice

"BEGIN!" Genma exclaimed, moving out of the way of the two competitors, one of which was already speeding at the other for a full-powered Jyuuken.

"I'll just go ahead and end this… quickly!" Neji said.

Kyban smiled, holding out his hands. Ice began materializing in front of him instantaneously, forming a barrier as Neji thrust his palm forward. He struck the ice with his Jyuuken, thrusting the chakra at it… only to find that nothing happened. Kyban made another motion with his hands and ice spikes shot from the barrier towards his hand, forcing Neji to retreat a safe distance away.

"Heh. Now you see why I'm the worst possible opponent for you." Kyban said.

"Byakugan!" Neji activated his Kekkei Genkai.

"What the…? It's like his ice is chakra resistant! That's why I couldn't thrust my chakra through it with my Jyuuken!"

"You never did tell us how the battle against this guy went…" Tamaru said to Raigar.

"Yes, well… his ice… it blocks chakra except for fire style, so most of my ninjutsu attacks were useless against it. One would need either a fire style attack or plain Taijutsu to get past it."

"But isn't he using Taijutsu?"

"No." Kakashi answered, "The Hyuugas use the Jyuuken, or gentle fist, which uses chakra surges to hit the opponent's chakra points. In other words…"

"The attack is based around sending out chakra… Which the ice blocks." Raigar finished.

"Hmm… I know how good Neji was, since we graduated in the same class. I know how much of a prodigy he is. But this… that Mist guy might actually be able to hold up his claim." Tamaru said.

"It looks like it could be a possibility… but don't rule out Neji just yet. If there's one thing he learned from Naruto before he left, it's to never give up." Kakashi said.

"Give it up, it's pointless!" Kyban laughed as Neji tried to hit him yet again from a different angle.

"Ice Style: Icicle Barrage!" Kyban shot out hundreds of little icicles at Neji, forcing him once more to retreat.

"Those icicles… each one is as deadly as a senbon, or kunai." he realized with his Byakugan.

"Yep, that's right! You won't last another minute! Ice Style: Stalactite Rain!" Kyban raised one hand towards the ceiling, where stalactites were growing out of the ceiling at his behest. Neji saw as they finished growing, then propelled towards him from all angles above him…

"Rotation!" Neji began to spin, his chakra forming a protective sphere around him as the projectiles tried to push through his defense. They failed.

"I don't care what his ice does, but when it comes to the ultimate defense against projectiles, Neji's got it." Tenten smiled.

"Then they can't touch each other?" Lee asked.

"No… I'm sure Neji will find away around that ice. But the Mist-nin can't do anything against the rotation."

"Stalactite Rain!"

Again Kyban shot a shower of large icicles from above, and again Neji deflected it by rotating.

"You're tiring out." Kyban said simply.

When Neji came out of his spin, he was breathing hard, but stood straight up. He wouldn't give Kyban the satisfaction of seeing he was tired.

"Only after two rotations? How disappointing. You're already running out of chakra, while I have plenty to spare. Stalactite Rain!"

"I see now… that Mist-nin… he was going easy on us in the forest!" Ino realized.

"Yeah… we beat him because he underestimated us… he probably could have killed us if he was really trying…" Raigar answered.

"What's Neji going to do? Surely he can't keep rotating at this rate, or he'll run out of chakra." Tamaru asked Kakashi.

"Don't count him out just yet." he said again.

"8 Trigrams: 128 Palms!"

"What?" Lee gasped. He did not know his eternal rival could do that.

Tenten grinned a little.

"He told me about his match with the spider freak. It was like this match; he couldn't keep using rotation because it was wasting too much chakra, so using this technique he took the projectiles one by one." she said.

"Amazing…" Lee gasped.

All that anyone saw of Neji was a blur as the ice projectiles were deflected in all manner of different directions, much to Kyban's annoyance.

"Why won't you die! Stalactite Rain!" he added more icicles to the barrage, all of which were promptly deflected by Neji.

"It's going to take more than that to defeat Neji." Tenten declared.

"Amazing…" Rasha said.

"He might even be moving faster than me." Lee agreed.

Tamaru was uncharacteristically silent for the second time in the past two days.

"Grr… try deflecting this! Ice Style: Gigantic Ice Spear!" Kyban held up his hands, gathering all the ice he could muster into one gigantic spear.

"He's lowered his guard to use that attack…" Kakashi murmured.

"So now he's using THAT attack." Ino noted in recognition.

"Kakashi's right, Neji should attack now. That's what we did." Raigar said.

Neji seemed to come to this realization a moment after Raigar said it, rushing forward at Kyban.

"It's too late for that now!" Kyban slammed the unfinished spear on the ground as Neji approached him. The gigantic icicle shattered into hundreds of little icicles, shooting outwards at Neji. Neji jumped backwards to avoid them, but was too late… Dozens of icicles punctured him in various places as he landed, falling to his knees. Blood seeped out from the wounds as the icicles mysteriously melted.

"Now take this! Ice Style: Ice Prison!" Kyban pointed to where Neji was standing, where the shards of the broken stalactites lay. The shards began to form together, joined by new ice, as they spread upwards around Neji to entrap him. Neji leapt upwards to escape the trap, but it looked like he wouldn't make it… the prison was expanding too fast.

"Air Palm!" he thrust his hand at the ground, sending a current of air downwards at the ground, using it to propel him higher and safely outside the range of the ice prison. Kyban growled in frustration.

"That's new." Tenten said, blinking. She didn't think Neji had any moves that he hadn't shown her. But apparently he did.

"Just what I would expect from my eternal rival!" Lee shouted.

"Would you cut out the eternal rival crap?" Tenten replied.

Gai was trying to catch Kakashi's eye, but he was too busy watching the match.

"Why does he have to act so cool…" Gai groaned.

"Ice Style: Blizzard Jutsu!" Kyban shoved his hands forward towards Neji, a shower of icicles shooting at him. Neji got up and tried to meander forward through all the icicles, but there were too many; he ended up getting pushed back with more wounds than he had to start with. Kyban let out a laugh.

"Pitiful. For a Hyuuga prodigy, you are a complete failure." Kyban chuckled.

Neji stood again.

"That's what I said… last year… to Naruto…"

Kyban raised an eyebrow.

"And I lost because of it!"

Neji charged again.

"Again? Whatever. I'm getting tired of this. Ice Style: Ice Encampment Wall!"

Kyban held out his hands, the air seeming to shimmer in front of him. Then crystals of ice began to appear, connecting themselves to each other, all across the room from one wall to another. Soon enough, there was a solid wall of ice stretching all the way across the room, all the way from the floor to ceiling, cutting off any way to get at Kyban. Even though it could not be heard, it was clear Kyban was laughing as Neji looked at the new obstacle in front of him.

"How the heck am I supposed to get past that?" Neji wondered.

Karken raised an eyebrow up on the balcony.

"It looks like Kyban isn't as loyal as he would like us to think." he said.

"Yeah… that attack looks like it was designed to counter your jutsus…" Ryuna noted.

"So he's been planning against us all along… I knew he couldn't be trusted."\

Kiba gasped.

"It's… huge… I'm not sure even my Double Wolf Fang could break it…"

Neji was just as confounded by the gigantic barrier.

"Ice Style: Blizzard Jutsu!" they saw Kyban mouth, forming a few hand signs, then touching the ice wall. Icicles shot out from the wall itself, pummeling Neji again, who raised his arms to protect his face.

"NEJI!" Tenten screamed. She couldn't believe it. This was Neji they were talking about; how could he be losing?

Lee and Gai were dumbstruck.

"Why won't you die?" Kyban screamed silently as Neji stood again, "Ice Style: Giant Ice Knight!"

Kyban touched the wall again, and a mass of ice emerged from it, connected by a smaller tendril of ice. The mass turned into a huge knight made of ice, with a sword and shield. It swung at Neji, who didn't have time to get out of the way, batting him to the other side of the room. He stood again, panting and groaning, bleeding from multiple places. The Knight took three ponderous steps towards him and stopped, waiting for him to charge again.

"The Knight can only go so far because he has to be connected to the ice wall…" Neji thought, looking at the tube of ice between the Knight and the wall, "Maybe… but I can't break the ice…"

Neji fell to one knee, looking at his opponent and his giant Knight.

"If this keeps up, Genma's going to have to call the match…" Kakashi noted.

"No! You can do it, Neji!" Lee called.

"Don't give up!" Tenten added.

"YOSH! SHOW THEM THE POWER OF YOUR YOUTH!"

Neji glanced up in annoyance at his sensei. Don't you think I'm trying my best? he wanted to shout back.

If Kyban's barriers absorbed his Jyuuken, it was probably safe to say that the Knight did as well; it was made of the same ice. So he had no way to get around Kyban's barrier, no way to defeat the Knight, no way to do anything but get pummeled some more by the Knight. He was already bettered enough as is. Was this it? Was he at his end already? No! Naruto would never give up no matter what, so Neji couldn't either. He would find a way.

He clenched his fists in silent fury.

Wait… he clenched his fists?

Then something clicked.

xxxFlashback from Chapter 4xxx

"Neji, what I'm about to teach you is originally one of my own and Lee's move. I think it would come in handy for you, and with your superb chakra control, you should be able to master it easily." Gai said.

Neji nodded respectfully, but didn't look too impressed. What could Gai teach him that would help a Hyuuga? Not that Gai wasn't powerful, but… the Hyuuga style was the Hyuuga style, and couldn't be mixed with anything else. What need did he have for brute force attacks?

"This attack," said Gai, "Is not in Gentle Fist style."

Neji knew that already. Gai and Lee didn't do anything in Gentle Fist style anyway.

"It should only be used to attack if your foe has put up a barrier or some sort, or if you're destroying an obstacle in your way. Close your fist." Gai instructed.

Neji sighed, closing his fists. His Hyuuga Gentle Fist stance just didn't feel right with closed fists, so he awkwardly held his fists in front of him, like a boxing fighter.

"It's simple enough to learn. Focus as much chakra as you can at one time to your fist, like so." Gai said.

Gai's fist began to radiate blue, and it looked like he was wearing a glove made of chakra.

"Then, when you're at your limit and feel like you can't hold it anymore… PUNCH!" Gai exclaimed, striking a nearby tree. He took a large portion out of the side of the trunk, enough so that the weight was lopsided and came down with a crash.

Neji sighed. Such a brute force attack was not his style, but he'd learn it anyway. Why not, right?

xxxEnd Flashbackxxx

Neji's eyes widened.

"That's it!" he thought.

Focus my chakra to my fist…

Neji directed as much chakra as he could to his fists, which began to glow blue like it had when Gai had demonstrated the attack.

"All right… it's now or never!" he exclaimed, running forward.

"Hah, what can you possibly do? You're beat." Kyban laughed, making a swinging motion with his hand, which made the Knight swing his sword at Neji. Neji avoided the attack, leaping up onto the Knight's sword, using it to launch into the air.

"What? He shouldn't even be standing, let alone be able to dodge like that!" Kyban gasped.

The other ninja were watching intently, none moreso than Tsunade herself. She was on the edge of her seat. Gai was simply smiling.

Neji flew over the Knight, crashing down on the ice tendril connecting the Knight to the wall, using his left hand to attack, shattering the connection. As it shattered, the Knight stumbled for a bit, then fell down the ground, exploding in shards of melting ice. Neji pushed even more chakra into his right hand as he approached the wall. Kyban shot more icicles at him as he grew closer and closer- but Neji warded all the projectiles off with his fist.

"DYNAMIC FIST!" Gai shouted out as Neji struck the giant wall.

For a second nothing happened. Then a crack appeared where Neji had struck. Then the cracks spread all throughout the wall. With a clamorous crash, the entire wall splintered into trillions of little ice shards and fell to the ground, leaving a defenseless and wide-eyed Kyban standing in front of an approaching Neji. Said Hyuuga unclenched his fists, reverting back to normal Hyuuga style, zoomed up to Kyban before he could shield himself again, and started striking chakra points.

"8 Trigrams: 64 Palms!" Neji exclaimed as he finished striking all of Kyban's chakra points. Kyban slumped to the ground, chakra-less, his shards of broken ice melting into nothing as medical examiners rushed in to check him.

Genma smiled.

"Winner: Hyuuga Neji." he declared.

Neji smiled.

"I knew he wouldn't lose!" Tenten shouted out to the world.

"Just what I would expect from my eternal rival!"

"YOSH! He used it! He used it! He used the move I taught him!" Gai was exclaiming up on the balcony. Neji was feeling a detached from the experience, his wounds throbbing in pain. He felt a little dizzy and faint at the moment. A medic-nin came up to him after they ascertained that Kyban would be all right.

"Do you need treatment?" the medic-nin asked.

Neji swallowed his pride for the moment, for he was in no condition to argue. He nodded.

"I would appreciate that."

As they ushered Neji out to get treated, the other nin commented, mostly in amazement, on the young Hyuuga prodigy. Tsunade simply smiled as she motioned for Shizune to start the next random selection.

The letters whirred as the ninja watched silently.

Subaku no Temari

VS.

Kataro Raigar

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Whew… the Neji/Kyban fight is done! Yeah! That's probably one of the longest and hardest fights to do, if not THE hardest.

Next Time: Raigar, you better not lose on me! What's so great about this fan girl anyway? (pun fully intended) It doesn't matter. I expect to see you in the finals, Raigar, so I can beat you myself. You better not lose. And what's that Rock-nin's problem? Heck, he scares me just by thinking about him. Oh well. I feel sorry for that girl that's facing him though…

Read and Review please!