Hokage: Ryo's Path

“Who do you think will win the duel?” Asuma asked with interest.

Kurenai pondered and said, “I think Hyuuga Neji will win. He’s a year older than Uzumaki Naruto. After just a year from his graduation, he has done a lot of missions with Guy. His fighting experience is far richer than Uzumaki Naruto. He won’t lose.”

Kakashi said lightly. “I believe in my disciple.”

“Me too. I think Naruto will win. He’s the son of Yondaime-sama. He has been training since a young age with Ryo. I’m sure his power will surprise us.”

Hearing Asuma’s opinion, Kurenai was also surprised, but she felt Neji was much stronger. As Hinata’s sensei, she had gone to Hyuuga residence and accidentally saw Neji.

At that time, Neji had just returned from a mission and reported to Hyuga Hiashi. Instead of taking a break, he directly started exercising. The hardworking genius Genin impressed Kurenai.

From Kurenai’s impression, this is a fair world. With hard work, you will gain something. And Neji has put all his effort into hard work and time than Naruto. So she thought Neji wouldn’t lose.

As soon as Hayate Gekko announced the game, Naruto walked away from Neji. He knew Hyuuga Clan’s main fighting method was Taijutsu, and he himself was relatively good at Taijutsu.

But he didn’t directly go on a Taijutsu with Neji. Instead, he used Shadow Clone Jutsu for precaution.

With both hands, Naruto created three Shadow Clone Jutsu with hand seals. Since it’s to initiate an attack, of course, he needed to do his best. Naruto immediately threw out the Smoke Bomb, intending to disturb Neji’s sight.

Of course, it would work for other people, but his opponent was a Hyuuga Clan Member. Naruto’s technique was useless against Byakugan.

Facing Shadow Clones rushing out of the smoke, Neji snorted coldly and then used Eight Trigrams Vacuum Palm to break one of the Shadow Clone Jutsu.

Seeing this, another Shadow Clone Jutsu rushed forward. While Neji just finished his Eight Trigram Vacuum Palm, the Clone raised his fist and aimed at Neji’s face.

Neji didn’t panic; he dodged sideways and escaped Naruto’s Shadow Clone Jutsu’s attack. He then directly destroyed the Shadow Clone with a single hit.

After solving the two Shadow Clone Jutsu, Neji set his eyes on Naruto amidst the smoke.

Naruto took a deep breath, he threw a shuriken to Neji and burst out of the smoke. Quickly forming hand seals and appearing in front of Neji in the blink of an eye.

“Was that Ryo-sama’s Body Flicker Jutsu? Unfortunately, you’re not fast enough!” Neji dodged sideways again to dodge the shuriken and then hit Naruto’s chest.

Naruto was flown back, and Neji quickly caught up. “It’s not over yet!” Neji quickly used Sixty-Four Palms and sealed Naruto’s movement. Naruto fell to the ground, unable to move.

Glancing at Naruto, he looked at Hayate Gekko and said. “Referee, please do announce the result.”

Hayate Gekko shook his head, and then he realized that Naruto might be up to something.

Sure enough, after seeing Hayate Gekko shook his head, Neji turned his attention back to Naruto. This time, he saw Naruto just punched on the ground, turned into white smoke, and disappeared.

“Shadow Clone Jutsu? That’s impossible!” Neji’s expression drastically changed; he activated Byakugan to search for the real Naruto’s location.

As soon as he activated Byakugan, Neji saw Naruto just appear behind him with a blue Chakra ball in his hand. Although the size of the blue Chakra ball was just palm-size, Neji felt a huge threat.

Neji instinctively released a large number of Gentle Fist Chakra from his body and rotated in place. As he rotated, a semi-circular Chakra shield appeared in front of him.

“Hey! It’s Yondaime-sama’s Rasengan!” Asuma exclaimed.

“Asuma, why did you just see Naruto but not Neji? He used Hyuuga Clan’s Secret Jutsu, Eight Trigrams Palms Revolving Heaven to defend himself.” Kurenai said.

Kakashi’s expression was proud. “Yeah, he could actually use Eight Trigrams Palms Revolving Heaven. How old is he? To think he could actually master the core of Hyuuga Clan’s Secret Jutsu... the absolute defense, Eight Trigrams Palms Revolving Heaven. And Naruto’s Rasengan won’t be able to break through it.”

On the other side, Hyuuga Hiashi was startled. “Hizashi, when did Neji learn this Jutsu?”

Hizashi also wore a confused expression. He shook his head. “I’m not sure. I only showed it to him a couple times. But I never expected he could learn it.”

Hiashi smiled. “That doesn’t matter. What matters is now we know the Hyuuga Clan had a genius Ninja like Neji.”

Naruto and Neji in the duel arena had no idea their fight shocked the spectators. Moreover, their battle was far from over.

Naruto directly attacked the Eight Trigrams Palms Revolving Heaven with Rasengan, but unfortunately, it couldn’t break through the shield. After all, the Jutsu was known to repel all physical attacks.

Naruto snorted coldly, created more than a dozen Shadow Clone Jutsu, and condensed Rasengan on each hand. Again, he and the clones attacked the shield without prevail.

“I can’t believe I can’t break that shield!” Naruto closed his eyes, red Chakra bubbles appeared from his body and slowly enveloped his entire body and became the Ichibi Bijuu coat.

Naruto condensed another Rasengan. This time, the Rasengan became dark red from Kyuubi’s Chakra.

The spectators were shocked by the red Rasengan. Hayate Gekko rushed to stop him from attacking. Unfortunately, Naruto had already started attacking.

The Rasengan was just about to hit Neji’s shield when a lightning flash and a silhouette blocked Neji.

Then, the sound of a sharp blade being unsheathed was heard. A white light flashed, cutting the red Rasengan in Naruto’s hand in half.

The split Rasengan was about to explode when the silhouette took a Scroll from his Ninja Tool Pouch and instantly sealed the Rasengan’s power into the Scroll.

“Naruto! It’s too dangerous! Neji is your friend. Do you want to kill him?”

The familiar voice stunned Naruto.

After seeing the person in front of him, Naruto immediately exclaimed. “Kakashi-sensei? What are you doing? I was going to win!”