Chapter 13: Divine Air Strike
The seasons turned, winter's cold giving way to summer's heat, autumn's harvest to winter's slumber. Before he knew it, two years had passed since Neji began his training in the Hidden Cloud.
Though he was only six years old, two years of soaking in the secret medicine had transformed him from a small child into a sturdy young boy, already standing at a height of 1.3 meters.
In the Raikage's office, A lifted a dumbbell with one hand while asking Matsuichi, "Matsuichi-senpai, how is Neji's training progressing?"
"Lord Raikage," the old man replied, a hint of awe in his voice, "the boy is exceptional. He has already mastered the Lightning Release Chakra Mode."
"Oh?"
A was genuinely surprised. He himself had been a once-in-a-generation genius in the Cloud, but he had only managed to learn the technique at the age of thirteen.
It seemed his father's theory had been proven correct. And if that was the case, then establishing a Hyūga clan within the Hidden Cloud was a necessity.
"Matsuichi-senpai," A continued, "I plan to have Neji consolidate his foundation for another two years. I'll have to trouble you to continue his instruction."
But Matsuichi shook his head, a wry smile on his face. "Lord Raikage, I have nothing left to teach him. In the entire Hidden Cloud, there is no one qualified to be his teacher."
Thud!
The dumbbell in A's hand dropped to the floor, shattering the tiles on impact.
"Senpai, you must be joking!" Even Dodai, a man who rarely showed his emotions, couldn't hide the shock on his face.
"Heh," Matsuichi chuckled, a grin spreading across his lips. "Dodai, my boy, I've been teaching Neji for over a year. I know him far better than you do."
"Lord Raikage," he said, his expression turning serious, "with all due respect, I'm afraid we have all underestimated Neji."
"By a conservative estimate, his current strength is already on par with an average Tokubetsu Jōnin."
"Hahaha!" A burst out laughing, his joy unconcealed. He then leaped out of the window, transforming into a blur of blue-white electricity and vanishing in an instant.
Dodai stared at the shattered glass, a look of exasperation on his face, but a small smile played at the corners of his mouth.
"It's been a long time since Lord Raikage was this happy."
"Come on, Dodai, my boy," Matsuichi said. "Let's go and see for ourselves."
Evening in the Hidden Cloud was a time of tranquility. The buildings seemed to be draped in a gray cloak, and the towering peak of Mount Kumokumo stood like a giant, watching over the vibrant village.
In a special training ground, Hyūga Neji, dressed in black training gear, stood silently in the center, his eyes closed.
The area around him was filled with traps and mechanisms, countless kunai aimed at him from all directions.
Neji opened his eyes and slowly released the rope that controlled the mechanisms.
Swoosh! Swoosh!
In an instant, the creaking of the traps and the piercing sound of projectiles filled the air. A dense rain of kunai shot toward Neji from all sides.
At that exact moment, a brilliant blue-white aura of electricity erupted around his body.
He moved.
Like a blue arrow, he shot forward with a fierce howl, directly into the hail of kunai.
The projectiles were incredibly fast, and they came from a complete 360-degree radius with no blind spots. But under the gaze of Neji's strange, blue-tinged Byakugan, the trajectory of every single kunai was perfectly clear.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
His palms became a blur, striking out with immense force. The kunai he hit exploded from the inside out, creating a dense cloud of metal shavings that shrouded his blue form, making him look like a ghost in the mist.
Shhhiing!!
The final projectile, a massive Fūma Shuriken, flew at him from straight ahead. It spun at an incredible speed, carrying a terrifying amount of kinetic energy, enough to effortlessly slice through human flesh and bone.
Neji stood his ground, unmoving. A small smirk touched the corner of his lips as he clenched his right fist.
"Divine Air Strike!"
He threw a straight punch. The full, ferocious force of the blow erupted outwards. The cloud of metal shavings was blasted away by the force of the punch, and a tangible sphere of pure chakra shot from his fist, flying toward the Fūma Shuriken.
BOOM!
Before the shuriken could even get close, it was struck by the chakra sphere five meters away from Neji and exploded into a fine powder of metal.
For a taijutsu master, breaking stones and splitting boulders was a simple task. But to be able to project their force into an object and make it explode into dust from the inside, as Neji had just done, was something only the truly exceptional could achieve. And a ninja's body was far less durable than a Fūma Shuriken. The consequences of being hit by such an attack were easy to imagine.
"Success," Neji murmured, a smile playing on his lips as he looked at the system panel in his mind. "I finally have a technique to replace the Gentle Fist. No more poking at Tailed Beasts and Susanoo."
[Taijutsu: Eight Trigrams: Sixty-Four Slashes Lv4 (241/4000), Divine Air Strike Lv1 (1/500)]
The Divine Air Strike he had developed was a fusion of the principles of the Strong Fist and the Gentle Fist, combining the raw power of the former with the penetrating and precise force of the latter. Once struck by the chakra sphere, it would invade the enemy's body through their tenketsu points and pulverize them from the inside.
Furthermore, the Divine Air Strike was a non-elemental nintaijutsu. By infusing it with one of the five basic chakra natures, it could be adapted for a variety of uses, much like how Naruto had refined his Rasengan.
"I wonder if the principle behind my Divine Air Strike is the same as Kaguya Ōtsutsuki's Eighty Gods Vacuum Attack," Neji mused. "But with Kaguya's terrifying power, every one of her attacks has world-destroying potential. Her technique is likely just pure, overwhelming force. In terms of finesse, it's probably inferior to mine."
Neji collected himself and glanced over at the edge of the training ground. A, who had appeared at some point without Neji noticing, was staring at him with a look of utter shock.
"Lord Raikage, I'm sorry, I..." Neji began, a hint of apology in his voice.
"I'm the one who should be sorry for interrupting your training," A said, waving his hand dismissively. "To have mastered the Lightning Release Chakra Mode so quickly... you've truly given me a great surprise."
His eyes then fell on the fine, flour-like metal dust covering the ground. "That technique you just used... was that a nintaijutsu you created yourself?" The lightning aura around Neji, visible from miles away, was clearly the Lightning Release Chakra Mode. But the final chakra sphere he had fired was unlike any nintaijutsu A had ever seen.
"Yes," Neji replied calmly. "It's called Divine Air Strike. It's an A-rank technique."
Hearing this, A froze, another wave of shock washing over him.
Anyone who could create their own jutsu was a genius. Both the Third and Fourth Raikage were geniuses among geniuses. The nintaijutsu they used were highly personalized and self-created. But at the age of six, neither of them had possessed the ability to create an A-rank technique.
A then noticed the faint blue glow in Neji's pure white eyes. A sudden possibility struck him, and he blurted out, "Neji... your eyes... could they be the legendary Tenseigan?"
Under the Raikage's expectant gaze, Neji slowly nodded.
Hah!
A took a deep breath, then clapped Neji on the shoulder and let out a loud, unrestrained laugh.