Underground Arena vs the Hidden Leaf · Superhuman
Kaku Kaioh vs Neji Hyuga
A 146-year-old kenpo master meets a prodigy who can see every pressure point in the human body.
Tale of the tape
| Baki | Universe | Naruto |
|---|---|---|
| Superhuman | Tier | Superhuman |
| Shouha: a century of perfect relaxation and timing | Strength | The Byakugan and the Gentle Fist, which seals an opponent’s chakra points one by one |
| Old age, and he knows it | Weakness | A tiny blind spot at the back of his vision |
| 1–1 | Record on Versus | 0–1 |
The Arena
Kaku Kaioh, the greatest master of Chinese kenpo, now well over a hundred years old, wandered into the Hidden Leaf during a festival, leaning on a cane, his eyes half closed. Neji Hyuga noticed him immediately. With the Byakugan, Neji could see the old man’s chakra network, and it was unlike anything he had ever seen: calm, vast and perfectly controlled.
“You are not a ninja,” Neji said. Kaku smiled gently. “No. I am an old man who has spent a long time learning how the body works.” Neji’s eyes narrowed. “So have I.” He took up the stance of the Gentle Fist. Kaku set down his cane slowly.
The festival crowd gathered around them, curious. An old man and a young prodigy. Most of them assumed it would be over in seconds. Most of them were right, though not in the way they expected.
Round One
Neji attacked with the Gentle Fist, his palm strikes aimed at the chakra points along Kaku’s arms. Kaku did not block them. He moved his body a few millimetres, and Neji’s fingers struck empty air beside each point, as if the old man knew where the strikes would land before Neji did.
Neji frowned and used Eight Trigrams Sixty-Four Palms, a sequence of strikes that closes every chakra point in the body. Kaku flowed through it like water through a stone garden, and only a handful of strikes landed. Neji stared, stunned. Nobody had ever escaped that technique.
Kaku smiled. “You see very well, young man. But seeing is not the same as knowing.”
The Turn
Neji used Eight Trigrams Palm Rotation, spinning into a dome of chakra that throws back any attack. Kaku did not attack. He simply walked forward into the spinning dome, his body perfectly relaxed, and let it push him gently aside. Then he did it again, finding the rhythm of the spin, and on the third step he was inside it.
He touched Neji’s shoulder with two fingers, a feather-light touch, and Neji spun out of control and crashed to the ground. He rolled up instantly, shocked. The old man had used the Rotation’s own momentum against him.
Neji tried again with every technique he knew. Kaku answered each one with something softer, slower and older, as though he had seen every martial art in history and was simply reminding Neji what came before.
The Finish
Finally, Kaku stepped forward and used Shouha, the ultimate technique of complete relaxation: a strike so loose and natural that it carried the full weight of his body without any tension at all. It touched Neji’s chest softly, and Neji flew backwards across the courtyard and landed in a festival stall full of rice cakes.
Neji lay there, stunned, looking up at the paper lanterns. His chakra was fine. His body was fine. He had simply been moved by a force he could not see, even with the Byakugan. Kaku walked over and offered him his hand.
“Your eyes see everything,” Kaku said. “But your body is still tense. When you can relax completely, the way water relaxes, you will be very strong.” Neji took his hand and rose. Then, to the astonishment of the Hyuga clan, the proudest prodigy of the Hidden Leaf bowed to an old man with a cane and asked him to teach him.
The verdict
Kaku Kaioh wins
Neji’s Byakugan sees every chakra point and his Gentle Fist would cripple almost any fighter, but Kaku has more than a century of mastery, reads Neji’s strikes before they land, and wins with techniques built on perfect relaxation.
- ExperienceOver a hundred years of martial arts mastery.
- ReadingKaku moves before Neji’s strikes arrive.
- ShouhaA strike of total relaxation that the Byakugan cannot defend against.
How the rematch could go differently: A Neji who closed enough chakra points early with Sixty-Four Palms could weaken the old master before he found his rhythm.
Who do you think wins?
Who would win in a fight between Kaku Kaioh and Neji Hyuga?
Kaku Kaioh wins. Neji’s Byakugan sees every chakra point and his Gentle Fist would cripple almost any fighter, but Kaku has more than a century of mastery, reads Neji’s strikes before they land, and wins with techniques built on perfect relaxation.