"Impossible!"
Hyūga Neji clearly saw Sasuke's punch coming at the back of his head. He dodged that strike, but before he could recover, a follow-up kick came right at him. As he kept dodging through a series of attacks, he initially felt a bit smug—until, in the very next moment, Sasuke landed a solid kick to his face.
What infuriated him the most was that he had seen the kick coming—but his body was already moving with momentum. At his current level, he couldn't perfectly shift that momentum in an instant.
"The Hyūga clan isn't all that impressive!"
Sasuke was quite satisfied after landing that kick, especially with the footprint still clearly stamped on Neji's face. It looked pretty hilarious.
At the same time, though, Sasuke knew very well what came next: he had thoroughly pissed Neji off, and now a beatdown was coming his way.
He silently hoped that dumb Naruto wouldn't turn back and witness this. If that idiot kept catching him in such sorry states, Sasuke felt he might just lose all dignity.
"Eight Trigrams—Two Palms!"
Neji froze for just a moment after taking a kick to the face, but once Sasuke jumped away, he immediately snapped.
Chakra surged into his hands. As Neji closed the distance to Sasuke, he aimed to strike his chakra points.
Eight Trigrams Sixty-Four Palms—he couldn't fully perform the entire technique just yet, but Neji knew: to deal with a mere Sasuke Uchiha, he didn't need that many.
"Heh."
Sasuke took the two initial strikes head-on, and the chakra points in his body were sealed. In an instant, he felt his chakra come to a halt.
And that was just the beginning.
As Neji followed up with Four Palms, then Eight Palms, Sasuke couldn't do anything except activate his one-tomoe Sharingan from the impact—his body gave no other response.
"Do you need me to take you to the hospital, Uchiha brat?"
After delivering only Eight Palms, Hyūga Neji stopped and stood before Sasuke, his gaze filled with a twisted sense of satisfaction.
He was going to get scolded and punished when he got home anyway—so if he was already going to pay the price, sending this punk straight to the hospital was worth it.
"No need…"
To fully observe and memorize the Eight Trigrams technique, Sasuke squeezed out the two words through clenched teeth, then slowly closed his eyes.
Copy Ninja Kakashi couldn't replicate bloodline abilities—that much was true.
But that limitation… no longer applied to him.
He just didn't know when he'd get the chance to witness the full Eight Trigrams Sixty-Four Palms in action. Even having learned just the Eight Palms already left him wanting more—he was truly craving the rest!
---
"Sasuke… was it that white-eyed guy who hurt you just now? Kakashi-sensei, hurry and take Sasuke to the hospital! I'm going to find that bastard and avenge him!"
Naruto had just arrived with Kakashi when Neji Hyūga brushed past them outside the training field.
Seeing Sasuke lying on the ground in that state, Naruto's eyes instantly reddened, and his breathing grew unstable—he turned, ready to chase after Neji.
He had only been apart from Sasuke for a short while, and already someone came and bullied him again.
---
"You're going with Sasuke to the hospital. The one who hurt him… Sasuke will take care of that himself—once he's strong enough."
Kakashi grabbed Naruto by the back of his collar and bent down to pick Sasuke up from the ground. With both of them in tow, he body-flickered toward the hospital.
He saw more than Naruto did—Sasuke was clearly conscious, but since he chose not to say anything, this matter couldn't be allowed to spread.
Especially not to Naruto, who mustn't be led astray. Otherwise, it could prompt Konoha's higher-ups to make other arrangements.
Moreover…
He seemed to have caught a glimpse just now—there were marks on Neji Hyūga's face, as if someone had stepped on it. Though dust had been brushed off his face, the shoe print looked identical to the sole of Sasuke's shoe.
Sasuke might look pitiful now…
But there's no telling how badly he might've bullied Neji first.