The day before the Konoha Chunin Exams, two small figures—one in black and one in white—were locked in intense battle by the Nama River.
"Boom!"
From a distance, the white-clad figure sent a palm strike flying toward the black figure, leaving a small crater beside him.
"So that's the Eight Trigrams Vacuum Palm?"
"Yeah. I only just mastered it recently, otherwise I would've hit you earlier!"
"Pfft, I didn't even dodge just now."
"Take this!"
Indeed, the two fighters were none other than the Uchiha genius and the Hyuga's Little Iceberg.
Nayou's fist came charging at Shen, pure momentum behind it without even a trace of Chakra.
"This is Wing Chun?"
Shen stepped back to avoid the punch, but was immediately met with a continuous barrage from both fists, forcing him backward. However, with his Sharingan already active, he wasn't defenseless—he was analyzing her martial arts style all along.
"Shen, you're copying again!" Nayou shouted angrily, her hands moving even faster.
"That's not copying, it's borrowing! Got it? Smart people borrow, copycats steal!"
As Nayou launched another round of attacks, Shen kept retreating. He couldn't risk counterattacking against such an aggressive defensive style.
After all, Wing Chun was an inherently defensive martial art, using an opponent's force against them—making it hard for him to fight back directly. Chi Sao—the advanced technique used specifically for countering offensive moves—was something he had no idea how to handle. His skills in hand-to-hand combat still paled in comparison to hers.
Eventually unable to keep dodging forever, Shen raised his arm to block. He wanted to truly experience Wing Chun's Chi Sao up close.
As Nayou's left arm met his right, she pushed hard. Her right fist swiftly lunged at his face, clearly giving him no breathing room.
Shen blocked with his right hand, only to find Nayou pause briefly after pushing away his left arm. She then jabbed straight toward his abdomen.
Their limbs collided with a loud "thud" before separating. Nayou pulled back her right fist, rotated her waist for added power, and struck out again while transforming her left fist into a palm to push his right arm aside forcefully.
Unfazed by this dazzling display, Shen calmly activated his twin tomoe Sharingan to begin copying her movements.
Gradually, their exchange surpassed one hundred moves. As Shen caught on, he started fighting back with moves just like hers.
"You've lost, Shen!"
Seizing an opening, Nayou—who had held back most of her strength until now while cautiously watching the Sharingan—pushed away an incoming fist. Her waist and shoulder pivoted along the central axis as she fired off a punch with her left hand, shouting, "One-Inch Punch!"
Shen's mind raced through calculations. Unable to block as both arms were forced aside, he bent backward at the waist. At the last possible second, Nayou's punch skimmed tightly past his nose.
"???"
She hadn't expected this move from him at all. That close call shocked her for a second.
Quickly seizing the chance, Shen placed both hands on the ground and pushed off with his waist muscles. Flipping into a handstand, he shifted his shoulders to rotate his core, then swung his legs downward with force, delivering a powerful kick aimed directly at Little Iceberg's shoulder.
[Uchiha Martial Arts Style – Handstand Spinning Kick!]
Nayou reacted instantly upon hearing the straightforward name of the technique. She crossed her arms to block two consecutive kicks, but Shen suddenly flipped upside down mid-spin and kicked toward her again.
Nayou had no intention of taking a third hit directly. Although their battle had been purely physical up to this point, she quickly decided it was time to start using chakra and took a step back before channeling it.
"Boom!"
Her calves clashed against his crossed forearms.
Shen immediately noticed the slight difference in sensation this time. Through the gap between his arms, he could only see her retreating back. A sense of danger shot through him—he knew something had gone wrong.
But Nayou didn't stay still after stepping back. Placing her weight on her retracted leg, she released chakra through her acupuncture points. Then, using that same leg as her axis, she spun like a whirlwind. A small, delicate figure surrounded by a light blue chakra barrier gradually formed around her.
This was the Hyuga Clan's ultimate defense—[Eight Trigrams Palms Revolving Heaven]!
Seeing that Nayou had used chakra while flipping mid-air, Shen wasn't about to fall behind. Even while weightless, he controlled every muscle in both hands with sheer brainpower to form hand seals.
[Fire Release: Fire Dragon Flare Bullet!]
Three fire dragons flew from Shen's mouth, attacking Nayou from left, center, and right. This fire technique was one of many ninjutsu recently helped along by the Third Hokage. He believed it was the perfect move to use against Little Iceberg in her ultimate defensive stance.
Still rotating within the Eight Trigrams technique, Nayou knew the young genius wouldn't be taken down easily by this attack. Through her Byakugan's complete 360-degree vision, she saw Shen forming seals mid-flip. Her admiration for his bodily control increased yet again as she watched.
Yet she faced the three incoming fire dragons without flinching, increasing her chakra output and clearly determined to endure the Fire Release head-on.
"Boom!"
Inside the protective chakra barrier created by the Eight Trigrams rotation, Nayou gradually weakened the fire dragons' power by spinning continuously. In this ultimate defensive state, she absolutely believed Shen couldn't keep supplying enough chakra to maintain attacks from all three fire dragons. Though his modifications might have improved the Fire Release's efficiency and power, she knew its total consumption still couldn't match the energy conservation of the Eight Trigrams. Even if the young genius later possessed a Sharingan that boosted his overall chakra reserves, she remained confident in her ability to withstand the assault.
"This fire technique consumes way too much chakra—it's practically equivalent to releasing three Dragon Fire Techniques simultaneously. Well then, let's test our chakra reserves amount!" Resolved, Shen continued pouring out chakra, consuming ten percent of his total reserves per second.
After eight seconds, with his chakra completely depleted, Shen stopped fueling the Fire Dragon Flare Bullet. He knew this match would end in yet another draw.
Inside the deep crater left by Nayou's technique, she deactivated her chakra barrier, knowing she'd made the right call. Indeed, the difference in consumption had been too great, allowing her to endure until the very end.
The [Huitian] technique utilized inertia to create a defensive barrier, which inherently consumed less chakra compared to the [Fire Dragon Flame Projectile]. Since Shen was midair without contact with the earth, he had no way of using Earth Release. With no other options available, he could only resort to using the [Fire Dragon Flame Projectile], which ranked among the highest in range and power among the techniques he had learned. Though its strength couldn't compare to that of the Third Hokage, for a six-year-old like him, it was already quite impressive.
After all, Kakashi—a prodigy himself—could only use the Chidori up to four times a day, and during his battle against Zabuza, he collapsed after just two uses of the Lightning Cutter. Although this was partly due to the Sharingan's chakra consumption, Shen at least possessed about half the Chakra Reserves Amount of Kakashi.
"Are you alright, Nayou?" After ending his Fire Release, Shen smiled and stepped in front of her, offering his hand.
"I'm fine, just exhausted from too much chakra usage," Nayou replied, reaching out to take his hand. The warmth radiating from his palm seemed to reach straight into her heart, comforting and soothing.
A slight smile curved on her lips, indicating she was in a good mood.
As Shen helped her up, something suddenly came to mind. "Nayou, tomorrow is the Chunin Exams. How about we—"
"No way!"
"But I haven't even finished yet! We could do it like this..."
Nayou's eyes lit up upon hearing his idea. "That actually sounds pretty good. But are you sure this method will work?"
"Don't worry. My Elemental Chakra Mode is extremely powerful. And we can also do it like this..." Shen explained mischievously while smiling.
And just like that, a world-shaking plan was born—one that would soon make the Third Hokage regret ever approving the Chunin Exams.
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