Chapter 10: 10. Team Guy’s First High-Level Clash

Inside one of the many forests of the Land of Fire, on a small hill, amongst dense green trees on it, was a well-concealed group of three distinctive people hidden in those trees. The tallest one, out of the three, presently held a small binocular over his eyes while observing a small dirt road below in the forest intently, while the other two obediently stood on the side. They were all dressed in some kind of identical black kimonos, and with different, weird monster-like masks hiding all of their facial features. They carried only some small purses on them along with very large katana sword sheaths.

"Lord, you were right as always, this Land of Fire is really the richest place in the world. In just two months we got so much money that we could soon really return back and continue with our plan!"

One of the shorter men suddenly spoke relievedly and excitedly. He apparently held a great deal of respect for the man with the binoculars who himself responded seriously, "Yes, this is indeed the strongest shinobi country in the whole world, as it has always been for most of the time. In richness and overall economy, it could even compare to our Land of Iron. You should've seen for yourself just how good this land actually is as compared to the other countries we've been in the past year, even than the other four great nations. This many resources, fertile land, different animal kingdoms, and good weather, always made it so only the most capable people managed to settle here and that made it so strong. This territory was always the strongest even before the so-called Hidden Villages formation. That should've been seen as both Senju and Uchiha clans originated from here. It wasn't weird for Konoha to be equal in strength or even more powerful than the other four great ninja villages combined, in the past, though that isn't the case right now due to some circumstances!",

The most knowledgeable man amongst the trio spoke plainly as if intending to teach his two disciples/servants about some world history. He remembered those various pieces of knowledge from the library his clan owned. They could be said to witness the whole of world history. He was the one with the binoculars, who looked at the merchant's caravans slowly coming into view, on the dirt road. Back in the Land of Iron, there is no clan more ancient and more informed than his clan.

"This will be our last job actually. We're going back straight to the Land of Iron after this. I think we have gathered enough funds already.", The man continued. He always experienced some kind of dangerous feeling ever since they started protecting those bandits looting inside the Land of Fire. Even though their Hidden Village Konohagakure was now a lot weaker, than it was before, ever since the Nine-Tails attacked the village, he still couldn't help but feel a little apprehensive, 'I guess I'm overthinking it, there should be not many people stronger than me inside of Konoha now, and even if there are secret masters, I feel they have better things to do than deal with these problems!'

However, all of sudden, after a few seconds, the man suddenly dropped his binoculars on the ground, and at lightning speed, he drew out his twin katana swords from his waist, and two large blue sword slashes quickly followed forward in one direction. Two green figures suddenly flashed into the air, as if suddenly dodging the incoming attacks that way. The other two masked men also alertly drew their katanas out, each of them carrying one large-looking distinctive katana sword.

Once again, something strange happened, while the trio was distracted by the two green figures in front, they were suddenly attacked by two middle-sized peculiar chakra waves from their backs.

This time around, the two shorter masked individuals made their move, their single-edged striking swords started glowing blue with chakra and by a couple of weird distinctive hand moves, in multiple directions, that invisible chakra sneak attack, coming from their blind spot, was effectively dispersed using only their swordsmanship and chakra shape transformation with surgical precision.

Seeing that his sneak attack of two Vacuum Palms failed, the veiny-eyed Neji frowned a little in the distance. He was surprised especially by their precision in using shape transformation without any dojutsu to expel his attack, 'This will be more interesting than I expected!', And then he quickly went to regroup with Guy and Lee, who also didn't manage to sneak on the weird black-clothed samurai. After thirty more seconds, two different groups of three stood face to face on top of a forested hill.

Might Guy, Rock Lee, and Neji stood on one side, with Guy in the center, and the masked black-clothed samurai stood opposite of them, with the tallest one, with twin swords, in the center. He apparently used a quickdraw kenjutsu style as both of his swords were now back in his scabbards.

'This guy is strong!', Both Might Guy and the tallest samurai suddenly thought while sizing each other up, "Why are you protecting those low-level bandits? Do you know this is the Land of Fire!?" Guy asked first, while the other party already realized their identity while looking at their protectors.

"Sigh, what unfortunate luck to meet you, the Konoha's Blue Beast on our last operation...", The man, called Ieyasu, the lord of the famous Ashikaga clan of the Land of Iron, sighed a little suddenly.

It's not that they came totally unprepared for their goal of gathering funds by helping different bandit groups, found on the Black Market, rob different merchants all over the world. They more or else understood all potential strong obstacles they might face. Might Guy of the Konoha included.

The bandits would find the potential targets, and all their information and rob them. While they would just be on the lookout, and act if a need arose, to protect them while getting thirty percent of the overall loot. They were already quite famous mercenaries for different bandit groups on the Black Market called the Demon Trio. They didn't need to act often, but when they did, they destroyed every obstacle for their client bandit groups. That's why they gathered so much money.

"Alright, let's stop here, we'll go back and never return to this land again!", After a long sigh, Ieyasu finally stated. Even though he was very confident in his current strength, there is no need to risk it.

His two subordinates exclaimed a little in shock, after hearing him sighing and speaking, knowing themselves exactly how proud their clan's Lord, who was now backing off, really was. Might Guys was also surprised after hearing that proposal. As an exceptional taijutsu master, he could judge the strength of opponents who relied on taijutsu pretty well judging from their subtle body movements. And even though, kenjutsu was much different than taijutsu, it was still close enough. Therefore, he was very surprised that an opponent, of that caliber, backed off so easily, so he looked at Neji next.

To be honest, he would've probably decided to back off now, as this mission was nowhere near a simple B-level. So they weren't really obliged to complete it, and could probably just go back for backup. He didn't blame that merchant organization for not reporting it differently, as even he, would have not expected that opponents of that skill would go on babysitting some petty bandits.

However, looking at Neji again, who also had an elite jonin level of strength, in his opinion, he was more inclined to give him some real battle experience, this time around, and let him experience some real setbacks, for the first time, against an opponent of equal strength, and humble his mindset a little in that way. And, as for Rock Lee, he thought that he could probably last long enough, if he also opened his Inner Gates, and then wait for him to deal with the mercenary boss and help him on time if he also goes all out from the start with his Gates, "I reject your proposal, mercenary! Those bandits of yours weren't so lenient against our merchants before, killing many of them in cold blood even when it was not necessary and merchants complied with their demands!"

"Rock Lee, today, I allow you to use your Inner Gates in a battle for the first time!", "Neji, don't underestimate your enemy, both of you go all out from the beginning and wait for me to finish!"

"You also need to act together, until I return, against those two!", Rock Lee also had a low jonin level of strength if he goes all out. And with Neji there to protect him, he wasn't worried to arrive in time.

Seeing this, Ieyasu got furious and shouted angrily, "Blue Beast, I gave you chance, but you didn't cherish it! Today, we'll kill you, your disciples, and show you why samurai are superior to you dirty shinobi!", "Shingen, Yukimura, go and kill those guy's kid disciples, while I deal with him personally!"

Apparently, he also surprisingly looked down on shinobi and wasn't as level-headed as it seemed.

And just in the next moment, "Sixth Gate: Gate of View, Open!", after shouting that, in a big flash of green light, Might Guy suddenly vanished from his place and came in front of Ieyasu while kicking forwards, with a flash of fire, caused by the friction of air, accompanying his fierce kick. Ieyasu immediately pulled out his twin swords infused with blue chakra, from their sheaths, to block the attack, but, he was still catapulted, by the kick, high into the air, towards the top of the mountain.

"Lee, open up the Third Gate only, for now, your body can't handle more gates for a prolonged fight, and look for opportunities to sneak attack one of them in one blow with your Fifth Gate.", Immediately, Neji whispered to Rock Lee, while their enemies were distracted by Guy's fierce kick.

"Third Gate: Gate of Life, open!", Rock Lee nodded to Neji who was their agreed team captain once Guy wasn't around. Guy also told him the same thing many times in the past. Use his Fifth Gate, only for finishing blows now, because his body simply wasn't ready for more active use. Guy could use it like it's nothing, even his Sixth Gate, but Lee was still too young. So, he swiftly opened his third Inner Gate, veins bulging all over his body next, his pupils disappearing and his hair standing.

And, according to their agreement, Neji went forward first after opening his Byakugan and focusing. Looking at their swords now glowing blue with chakra, Neji warned Lee who followed him, remembering some knowledge from his previous life, "Be careful, they're chakra shape transformation masters. Their sword chakra coats could take on many shapes and do tricky moves!"

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The two samurai immediately launched different waves of chakra slices coming from their swords toward them, and seeing that, Neji reacted by producing a number of his Vacuum Palms to block.

However, surprisingly, Neji's expelled chakra Vacuum Palms got straight dispersed by their sword chakra waves, coming straight toward them next. Lee, opened his eyes in shock as it approached.

"It seems that those aren't ordinary chakra shape transformation waves, coming out of their swords, are also somehow infused with Wind Release!", Neji exclaimed in surprise while quickly creating a large enough Rotation, protecting him and Lee successfully next, 'Rotation is still enough, as it isn't just an ordinary expulsion of chakra like that Vacuum Wave move, but a real vortex-like technique!'

Seeing their attacks blocked without exception, Shingen and Yukimura were also surprised, also noticing something now, "So, you're from that Hyuga clan, the Lord talked about, little boy, the strongest clan of Konoha now!", "Yes, your eyes should probably sell good on the Black Market!"

'They shouldn't be that old, judging by their voices, probably around seventeen or eighteen years old both!', Neji immediately guessed their age after hearing them speak from behind their masks.

'We can't get close to them easily if they continue to spam those wind chakra flashes. And, I don't want to waste all of my chakra on pointless Rotations, let's wait instead and try this!', Neji decided.

"Eight Trigrams: Defensive Palms!", That was Neji's new personal technique he devised to use for defensive measures without having to waste a large amount of his chakra for multiple Rotations.

He first envisioned an ordinary Eight Trigrams field appearing all around his body. It was the same Eight Trigrams used commonly by Hyugas for offensive purposes. But, this one, was instead used to block all the intruding attacks with his fluid Gentle Fist style and exceptional chakra control ability. The imagined Eight Trigrams domain now protected both him and Rock Lee from all the incoming attacks, "Let do it, samurai, but better be quick, or else if our teacher comes back it's instantly over!"

"Hahaha, Hyuga, you are crazy, there is no way our Lord Ashikaga would lose to that weird shinobi!" And after shouting that, a barrage of those extraordinary chakra waves came over Neji once again.

Neji was now in an intense super focused state. Time appeared to slow down for him, as those chakra slashes started entering his imaginary defense domain. He lifted his hands up, they were now filled with his chakra. Those waves came one after another, but some of them got suddenly broken in half and thrown away by Neji, or directly reflected with his chakra-enchanted hands. His chakra control and chakra enchantment abilities were now approaching a simply legendary level.

"Hah!?", It was the first time those two servants were so surprised today after seeing that scene. But, soon they recovered, attributing the skill in front of them, as some usual Hyuga clan stuff. After all, they didn't know all that much about the shinobi world, as they came from the isolated Land of Iron. Therefore, without a single thought, they decided to switch to frontal combat right afterward.

They came on swiftly in front of Neji, attaching chakra onto their feet to make them faster. Neji appeared to still not notice them, while they both swung their swords towards him, ignoring Lee.

But in the next second, from Neji's right shoulder, right thigh, and many other body parts, different chakra projectiles rushed straight toward samurais' blind spots. Neji already previously anticipated their moves through his precognition abilities and activated the chakra expulsion attacks from his tenketsu points to their current most vulnerable spots, 'It's over, are those elites really that weak?'

Every Hyuga has the ability to expel chakra from any of their tenketsu points, at any time, though not many were as skilled in that area as current Neji, due to this overwhelming chakra control. He could not only expel chakra that way, but also make it extremely dangerous in a projectile-like manner. Combing it with his superb precognition, it was a deadly skill in Neji's current arsenal of moves.

'What!?', To Neji's shock, in the next moment, from their katanas, also various small chakra threads detached and distinguished his chakra like projectiles. Even Neji didn't expect that degree of shape transformation from them, even knowing that it was one of the samurai's basic skills in this world.

Soon, an extraordinary battle between chakra shape transformations coming from their katanas and Neji's body unfolded. And just as Neji's obviously superior chakra control ability started to prevail, the katanas of the two samurai suddenly got larger, filled with wind chakra, and slashed straight at Neji, 'They could do both their swordsmanship and that weird shape manipulation simultaneously!?'

Rock Lee looked over in fear and anxiety as those many meters long bright blue sword auras suddenly descended over them, 'Even Neji's Rotation probably won't be enough to stop it, what should we do!? I can't open the Fifth Gate that fast on time!', However, he was shocked once more!

"Fourth Gate: Gate of Pain, open!" Lee almost couldn't believe what he just heard. However, once he was carried on by Neji, who then had his eyes wholly white, his body full of bulging veins, and his long black hair half-standing in the air, he had to! Neji really somehow opened the Fourth Gate right in front of him, and with such speed as well!

Due to Neji's method of opening the Inner Gates being so different than the traditional one they used, he could do it much faster than them. It just took him one to two seconds of time at most!

"Lee, since I had nothing left to hide now, leave this battle to me! I need to end this quick!" Neji lowered Lee to the ground ahead and then jumped back to fight without looking back. He needed to finish this one quickly, as he could currently maintain this state for only about a minute at most in normal circumstances, and even shorter if he used other attacks of his Gentle Fist in that state.

"Where did he go!?", "I think it's the same move his teacher used to jump onto the Lord!", Let's find him!", However, those two samurai, didn't need to find him, because Neji already appeared there.

Neji was now much faster than them, so he started running in circles around them, making some kind of containing array made of his afterimages, even on top of them by jumping into the air. His body looked beastly now full of bulging veins. And just then, his hands suddenly started expelling chakra again, "The Vacuum Palm Onslaught!", It was something akin to a cage made for his attacks.

Hundreds of different faster and more ferocious, enhanced Vacuum Palms started pounding onto the two trapped samurai. It was Neji's current strongest attack method and he felt like that barrage could last only for about ten more seconds before he passed out of chakra exhaustion and body overuse at the same time from the Inner Gates. He just needed to finish them off, and Guy would probably pick him up after he was done with their leader. He had the utmost confidence in Guy.

At first, those samurai managed to deal with his barrage with their enchanted sword auras, but after a while, they started slipping a bit. And getting hit by one of his Vacuum Palms made their body nearly immobile and dysfunctional internally. It got harder and harder for them to dodge, and by the end of Neji's barrage, most of their internal organs were totally done, their brains stopped functioning due to Neji's disruptive chakra, same with their hearts, lungs, livers, and other organs.