“Why’d Shikamaru-kun give up?!? Is he stupid or something, dattebayo?”

“The high rank ninja all seem to like his performance, though,” I say. The Chunins and Jonins in the crowd are all buzzing about the Nara boy’s display, but I have my eyes on someone else.

Ino averts her gaze from mine as she enters the viewing booth. “Don’t look at me! I’m a fucking embarrassment.”

Arms encircle her, and Sakura leans in to kiss her pouting cheek. “Think of it this way, ‘A win’s a win.’”

I nod, catch both girls in my embrace, and kiss Ino’s opposite cheek. “The goal here is to have a good showing without getting too injured. You’ve both succeeded.” Tenten nods while lining her gums with cotton balls to staunch the bleeding cut on the inside of her mouth. “Leave the rest to me.”

I leap the railing to the arena floor, black cloak billowing. I unshoulder my gourd to set it aside for this bout. Then I look up to meet my opponent’s lavender glare.

“You might as well remove the cloak. My eyes will see through whatever trick you and your friends are playing.”

“Match Three, Aburame Shino and Hyuga Negi. Begin!”

I laugh. “Sure, I wasn’t planning on using it against you anyway.” I cast my cloak aside, then unzip my jacket and shrug it off. I’ve got nothing on but a sports bra and pants. This look bares my midriff, showing off my abs, shoulder traps, and strong arms. I’m sure my girls appreciate the view.

I slow-walk toward him.

He narrows his eyes. “Odd for an Aburame to remove their jacket. I assumed it makes the insects more comfortable.”

“You’re not wrong.” I don’t remove my glasses. I’m not quite at that point, yet.

“So, why?”

I crack my knuckles.

“I’m going to make you regret your life choices.” I want him to suffer for what he did to Hinata. Limiting myself will make his defeat sting that much worse.

“You, defeat me? I doubt that’s going to happen; I can tell with these eyes of mine. Abilities and talent are determined at birth. In other words, your destiny is set from the beginning.”

I laugh again. “There’s a lot of reasons that’s bullshit. For me, specifically, I’ve discovered how to surpass my limits time and again. In the great scheme of things, you’re a small bump in the road. That said… I’ll enjoy this.”

“Surpass your limits? Impossible. Each person’s life consists of being swept along in the inescapable current of—”

“—Okay, seriously, it was a mistake to engage you in verbal repartee. Less talking, more punching!”

I’m upon him now. Neji slides into the Gentle Fist stance with the practiced ease of someone who’s trained his whole life.

I mirror his movements perfectly.

“Fool! You dare compare a cheap imitation to the real thing?”

“This is no cheap imitation.”

“We’ll see about that.”

We exchange a flurry of blows. ‘Gentle Fist’ versus ‘Gentle Fist’ puts the difference between us on full display. My hands intercept each of his strikes with a mirror version. In the end, the outcome is decided in the first few seconds. I manage to hit a single of his tenketsu without reprisal.

He withdraws to take stock of the situation, and I do the same.

“Impossible! Not even someone with both the Sharingan and Byakugan could copy the entire Gentle Fist fighting style during a fight!”

We circle each other while searching for openings.

“You’re right. That would be impossible. I’m not just mirroring you… I’m using the moves I’ve been training every day for weeks! I’ll defeat you with the Gentle Fist I learned from Hinata!!!”

The Sharingan can’t copy moves my body isn’t capable of, like the Primary Lotus. However, I have the Byakugan, a teacher in Hinata, and a basic taijutsu foundation to build on. Using the Sharingan to drill her moves into my reflexes, it’s possible for me to learn the Gentle Fist!

Yet, Neji is Hinata’s superior, so how can I match him with her Gentle Fist? Well, the Sharingan is stupid busted. It allows me to bridge the gap between our skills and talent by increasing my reaction time.

“Neji-kun, on my own, I’m nothing.”

We dart towards one another, hands blurring with slaps, jabs, and palms. I twist my arm around his, and hit another tenketsu. We both retreat.

“On my own, I’m just another background character.”

Another exchange. Another tenketsu. Each one Neji loses decreases his strength by a tiny percent, making the next one that much easier to take.

“Abilities? Talent? It’s all bullshit!

I erode him like a boulder in the river.

“All my strength I gained from the people I met along the way.”

“Damn it! I’ll show you the power of natural talent!”

This time, when I attack, Neji flares his chakra through all his tenketsu while spinning. Palm Rotation. The Hyuga main family technique he discovered on his own through intuition. An impressive display.

I retreat until he stops spinning. It’s a defensive move meant to block projectiles and punt idiots that rush in like Naruto. Someone with the Sharingan and Byakugan would never be caught off guard by such a technique, though. I can literally see it coming.

To me, it’s just a waste of chakra. Our eyes meet. His chest heaves with exertion while my breathing is calm and smooth.

I rush him again.

““Take this! Eight Trigrams: Two Palms! Four Palms! Eight Palms! Sixteen Palms! Thirty-Two Palms! Sixty-Four Palms!””

With the Gentle Fist as my foundation, I can even mirror Neji’s techniques as he uses them! I speak Neji’s words with him in unison as I blatantly steal the advanced version of the Eight Trigrams technique. My body flows through his movements, fingers striking him as I dodge his blows.

Neji should have used this from the beginning, but his pride made him want to save it for a finisher, and his pride forces him to continue in a vain attempt to turn the tables on me. Instead, extending the exchange allows me to continue hitting his tenketsu until we reach the inevitable conclusion like a rock rolling downhill.

“I-Impossible! Gentle Fist is the strongest!” He stands there, lungs heaving, staring daggers at me.

One final insult. Finish him with Sasuke’s technique.

“Barrage of Lions!”

I kick Neji into the air. Then I jump, following him up with more kicks as we both ascend higher. At the top of the arc, I axe kick him down to the ground.

“Apologize to Hinata-chan!”

Neji spits blood as I land on him.

“The winner is Aburame Shino!”