Chapter 587: The Arrogant Neji Makes His Entrance

"What?! Naruto already knows the Rasengan?"

Namikaze Minato was genuinely astonished.

After all, this world's Naruto was still at the stage where he hadn't even taken the Chūnin Exams yet.

Meanwhile, Sasuke had already defected from Konoha, rampaged across the shinobi world, and developed a disturbing habit of taking people's arms.

Faced with Naruto's incoming "Rasengan," Minato showed a rare flash of confidence.

He formed a real Rasengan in his right hand and, wearing a proud and delighted smile, slammed it directly into his son's.

The result was disastrous.

Naruto's "Rasengan" bursting would have been bad enough, but Minato's genuine Rasengan was spinning at extremely high speed.

The instant the two collided, everything inside Naruto's balloon was caught by that rotation and flung in every direction.

Originally, Naruto's improvised attack would only have affected an area of around ten meters, roughly comparable to the trick he had once used against Kiba during the Chūnin Exams.

With Minato's enthusiastic assistance, however, its effective range increased by more than five times.

A Rasengan was essentially a high-speed blender without a protective casing.

And now it had just blended the contents of the balloon and sprayed them everywhere.

The first casualty was one of the villagers who had tried to bully Minato earlier before retreating from the smell.

He hadn't managed to get far enough away.

Something struck him directly across the face.

"AAGH—!"

The instant he opened his mouth to scream, things became even worse.

The scene was too tragic to describe.

Minato, on the other hand, remained almost completely untouched.

Since he was standing at the center of the spinning Rasengan, it was strangely similar to standing in the calm eye of a typhoon.

Aside from a little contamination on his hair and feet, the rest of him stayed remarkably clean.

And as for his hair…

It was already yellow.

Besides, he had only recently escaped from the septic tank. Clothes could be thrown away, but his hair hadn't exactly had time for a proper wash.

"Naruto learned nature transformation too?"

Minato stared at the muddy material scattered around them in amazement.

"And he incorporated it into the Rasengan?"

Having only just emerged from the septic tank, Minato's sense of smell was temporarily unreliable, so he failed to notice the real problem.

Instead, he genuinely assumed Naruto had somehow learned Earth Release nature transformation and incorporated it into the Rasengan.

He couldn't help feeling impressed.

Although…

Was Naruto even an Earth Release type?

Shouldn't his natural affinity be Wind?

"Whatever."

Minato quickly dismissed the question.

"This technique is amazing. If Naruto and I use it together against an enemy, wouldn't that make it a combination ninjutsu?"

His eyes lit up.

"I need to name it…"

After a moment of thought, Minato nodded solemnly.

"Great Taiji Transformation Rasengan."

And no, there was no need to ask why the legendary master of ridiculously long technique names had suddenly chosen something so concise.

The original movie's Taiji Rasengan had a name just as simple.

Perfectly reasonable.

Poof.

Naruto's shadow clone, unable to withstand the impact of the spray, disappeared.

Minato didn't find this strange at all.

He simply turned his gaze toward another Naruto standing nearby.

"Naruto, I don't know what you did to make your mother angry, but you should really come home with me now."

Minato adopted the patient tone of a concerned father.

"I'll tell her that your strength has improved considerably. If she hears that, she'll probably let you keep your life."

"…"

Probably?

She would only probably let him live?

Naruto was speechless.

"Naruto!"

Just as Minato interpreted Naruto's silence as a sign that his son had finally realized his mistake and prepared to continue persuading him, an enraged shout came from nearby.

"What have you done?!"

The newcomer was Hyūga Neji.

Naruto's shadow clone stared at him.

Neji's entire body was covered in steel needles, making him look exactly like a hedgehog.

Naruto vaguely remembered Hanabi calling Neji a hedgehog once during the Chūnin Exams in the real world.

Back then, Naruto hadn't really understood what she meant.

Now he finally did.

So this was some kind of traditional Hyūga training method?

Honestly, Neji really did look like a hedgehog.

The spines were just a little short.

"Neji, you've misunderstood. This is actually—"

"Silence!"

Neji cut him off with righteous fury.

"Naruto, you will answer for what you've done!

"Don't think that just because I've sealed all my senses except sight as part of my training, you can escape from me.

"Surrender now!"

Neji looked completely self-assured.

Unfortunately, his declaration immediately exposed some useful information.

"You sealed every sense except your eyesight?"

Naruto tilted his head.

"Then how did you hear me?"

At this point, he was so curious that he didn't even bother defending himself anymore.

"He's reading your lips."

Minato walked over and explained.

"With the Byakugan, Neji can read them even if your back is facing him."

Then Minato turned toward Neji.

"Neji, this mess was actually caused by both Naruto and me, so could you give me some face and—"

"Give you face?"

Neji sneered.

"Who the hell do you think you are?

"Get out of my way, or I'll beat you too!"

Then he paused.

"Wait. You just admitted you were his accomplice?"

Neji immediately shifted into a Gentle Fist stance.

"Then there's nothing left to discuss.

"I'll take both of you down together!"

The next instant, he lunged straight at Minato.

…

At the Hyūga residence, Hanabi and Hinata stared at the screen in disbelief.

Why was the Neji inside Engraved Tsukuyomi so unbelievably arrogant?

To be fair, the real Neji had also possessed a somewhat difficult personality before the Chūnin Exams.

But that had been the product of years of pressure and accumulated resentment.

Once those issues were resolved, he gradually returned to normal.

And because of the relationship between the Hyūga main and branch families, even the old Neji's harshest words had always carried a trace of insecurity beneath them.

He knew perfectly well that the main family could punish him whenever they wished.

But this Neji?

His arrogance came with absolute confidence.

…

"What the hell?!"

Naruto's shadow clone took one look at Neji and his father fighting and immediately dispelled himself.

He wanted no part of this.

Neither Minato nor Neji had realized what the suspicious "mud" scattered across the ground actually was.

When Neji activated his Gentle Fist, an Eight Trigrams field spread around him.

Air began circulating throughout the area without any visible wind, sweeping the material from the ground into a spiraling current like autumn leaves caught in a gale.

If those swirling objects had actually been leaves—or flames—the sight would have been spectacular.

Unfortunately…

They weren't.

"Imitation Rabbit Hair Needle!"

Neji suddenly shook his body.

The steel needles covering his back shot out simultaneously in one direction.

That direction happened to be the exact spot where Minato reappeared with Flying Raijin.

Byakugan target-locking combined with long-range projectiles—

Even teleportation became difficult to exploit against something like that.

Fast.

Accurate.

Merciless.

Minato was struck instantly, several of his chakra points sealed before he could react.

"Neji-nii is really strong in this world."

Watching from outside, Hinata couldn't help voicing her admiration.

Having personally fought Neji during the Chūnin Exams, she could tell how impressive this version of him was.

Of course, realistically speaking, anyone watching Neji defeat Namikaze Minato—even this timid Engraved Tsukuyomi version—would probably reach the same conclusion.

"What part of that was impressive?"

Hanabi stared at the screen in disbelief.

"And what kind of Rabbit Hair Needle is that? He's literally using needles!

"It's supposed to be made from hair!"

"Hair?"

Hinata turned toward her curiously.

"What technique is that? How do you know about it, Hanabi?"

"A really pale, really… imposing woman taught it to me in a dream."

Hanabi tilted her head.

"Based on the stories Makoto told us, I think she was Ōtsutsuki Kaguya?"

"…"

Hinata fell silent.

Who was Ōtsutsuki Kaguya?

She was beginning to feel seriously out of touch with the times.