Neji Hyuga's Melancholy

However, before starting the experiment, Sakura felt it was necessary to clarify things first.

"Let me state upfront that while the medical research-grade Ice Clone replicates the original body to the greatest extent possible, it is still not a real physical body and has the common drawbacks of any clone."

"Using it can rapidly advance the progress of Fist of the Hokuto Shinken, but it may not allow us to fully develop this Ninjutsu. I estimate that developing it to the fifth or sixth punch would already be quite good..."

"Why?" Neji frowned, feeling somewhat disappointed.

"Brother, that's because after the fifth punch of the Hokuto Shinken, it can amplify Chakra several times to more than ten times. The clones can't withstand that amount of Chakra, so they can't continue experimenting with clones after the fifth punch."

Hinata had done many experiments with Sakura and knew the intricacies of it.

A clone is, after all, just a clone. No matter how closely it simulates the original body, it still has its limitations. That level of Chakra would be difficult even for a real body, let alone a clone created temporarily.

However, if the Ice Clone become unreliable, we'll probably have to resort to using clones again...

Well, that gives us another reason to research cloning.

"What if we don't use the first five punches and instead activate the sixth acupoint?" Neji asked, unwilling to give up.

"That won't work... Activating the sixth acupoint alone is completely different from activating the first five acupoints first and then the sixth. Even if the former is safe, it doesn't mean the latter is safe."

Sakura Haruno wagged her index finger.

"Just as each gate of the Eight Gates Released Formation must be activated in the order of Open, Rest, Life, Injury, Block, View, Shock, and Death, the Hokuto Shinken must also be activated in the order of Pivot, Spinning, Gem, Power, Aperture, Opening Yang, and Yao Guang. Otherwise, it will either be ineffective or result in instant death due to the lack of buffer from the first few punches."

The pink-haired girl ruthlessly thwarted Neji's delusions. She took the Eight Gates Released Formation Scroll and the Hokuto Shinken Secret Technique Scroll from Hinata, the latter of which was covered in dust, clearly the result of being left in a corner to collect dust for several years.

This Ninjutsu was developed several years ago, and Sakura hasn't paid much attention to it, so she's almost forgotten how far it's progressed.

Hinata then briefly reviewed the situation; she was much more interested in this Ninjutsu than Sakura: "Regarding the previous Hokuto Shinken Project, we've already found two safe pressure points. According to your suggested naming rules, they are the first two of Shu, Xuan, Ji, Quan, Yuheng, Kaiyang, and Yaoguang. Now we need to find the third... By the way, Sakura, where did you find this set of names?"

"Hehe, it's just a meme, a name I just made up... It's not important. Let's get back to business."

"Yes, the Hokuto Shinken Project is to find seven adjacent safe acupoints out of the 61 acupoints in the human body. We have already found the first two, Shu and Xuan. The next goal is to find a safe acupoint, Ji, among the adjacent acupoints connected to Shu and Xuan..."

The concept of "connected acupoints" is meaningless—the body's acupoints are located on a vast network of meridians, and any two acupoints can be connected through these meridians. Therefore, theoretically, there are 59 acupoints connected to the pivot point. The key word is "adjacent": only adjacent acupoints that are not far apart are meaningful; if they are too far apart, they will not have a synergistic or amplifying effect.

Therefore, their next step is to find a safe acupoint from among the dozens of adjacent acupoints connected to Shu and Xuan.

The situation becomes more complicated because whether an acupoint is safe depends on which acupoint was previously activated.

For example, a point that is normally a fatal weakness may become a safe point after the previous points have been opened, thus providing a buffer. Conversely, a point that was originally safe may become vulnerable and dangerous due to the Chakra impact amplified by the previous points that have been opened, which could lead to an accident.

Even the order in which the acupoints are opened will have an impact... If the first few gates of the Eight Gates Released Formation are opened in reverse, it will cause a reverse flow of Chakra, collapse of the meridian system, and the user will die on the spot!

This increases the difficulty and danger of the exploration a hundredfold.

What was initially identified as a safe acupoint can easily turn into a deadly trap; acupoints that were identified as traps in the previous round must now be carefully tested in this round to see if they have become safe again...

Finding the first and second acupoints, Shu and Xuan, is relatively simple, but the situation becomes extremely complicated once you get to the third and subsequent acupoints.

Sure, without using Ice Clone or other methods, Sakura wouldn't have enough lives to develop the Hokuto Shinken to its fifth level.

Fortunately, the Ice Clone was developed specifically to deal with this situation...

The experiment went relatively smoothly: the Ice Clone functioned as expected, performing their intended purpose well.

The experiment was underway until noon.

"So, we found a few usable safe acupoints? I don't remember ever succeeding?" Exhausted, Sakura Haruno slumped in her chair and asked, feeling like she couldn't even lift a finger.

She wasn't physically tired, but mentally exhausted. She had already experienced 101 ways for the Ice Clone to die in just one morning, which was no easy feat.

"Zero..." Neji flipped through the experimental records, somewhat speechless. "Not a single one? Is that normal?"

"As expected, there shouldn't be so few acupoints available for Ji. No wonder we couldn't get it to work no matter how many times we tried back then," Hinata rubbed her Qingming acupoint, feeling a bit of a headache, "They were all wrong options."

"So we were in a dead end back then. This is good news!"

"Why? Isn't it better to have a wider range of choices?" Neji, somewhat puzzled.

"No, the wider the scope, the fewer options we need to eliminate, and the less effort we put into the experiment." Sakura said with her eyes closed and a smile, "If Xuan and Shu, Quan and Yuheng also only have a few safe options, then we can probably develop the first five punches of Hokuto Shinken by tomorrow—unless there are no forbidden acupoint techniques other than the Eight Gates Released Formation."

"You're overthinking it." Hinata shook her head and smiled, "Don't forget that the second punch's Xuan point actually has more than a dozen alternatives, and the first punch's Shu point has even more options. So, the Hokuto Shinken has hundreds of possible acupoint combinations in just the first two punches..."

"No, no, no, at most ten or so. The pivot point for the first punch is important; it can't be chosen on the main meridian or near internal organs, otherwise the initial Chakra boost will be too much, putting too much pressure on the subsequent acupoints and meridians. It's best to choose acupoints on the minor meridians as pivot points, and for the final Yao Guang, try to choose acupoints on the main meridian. Following this principle, about ten choices for both pivot and Xuan are quite suitable."

"So, according to you, our choices of Kaname and Xuan are also wrong?" Hinata frowned.

"I just had this idea myself. The first two acupoints doubling the Chakra boost isn't necessarily a good thing; too much Chakra can destabilize the acupoints. The first two gates of the Eight Gates Released Formation are on the head, so they have almost no effect. Therefore, I think the first two acupoints of the Eight Gates Released Formation should serve more as a buffer and controller for Chakra boosting..."

Hinata bit her nails, frowned, and pondered for a while.

"The Eight Gates Released Formation begins with the Gate of Opening and Gate of Healing on Qidian head, and continues along the spinal meridian, opening acupoints along the way, passing through the Gate of Life, Gate of Pain, Gate of Limit, and Gate of View, before reaching the Gate of Wonder at the coccyx and finally turning to the Gate of Death acupoint at the heart."

Hinata first recalled the contents of the Eight Gates Released Formation, and then continued.

"Then the Hokuto Shinken can also start from two acupoints on the head as the pivot and the pivot, and then follow the meridians of the five internal organs, passing through the spleen, lungs, kidneys, and liver, passing through the four acupoints of the phalanges, scepters, yum, and yang, and finally reaching the yaoguang acupoint of the heart..."

Her eyes grew brighter and brighter.

"This idea is very interesting, and it might even succeed!" Sakura also thought it might be a brilliant inspiration. "However, the number of meridians and acupoints that connect the internal organs is still considerable, amounting to hundreds or even thousands of combinations."

"For now, we only need to consider the possible combinations of the first five punches. That reduces the number of possible options to about three hundred. In my opinion, there's still a way to further refine them..."

The two then began to discuss animatedly, completely forgetting the man standing silently beside them.

Neji Hyuga a little awkward.

Being forgotten in a corner can feel a bit unpleasant...

He stood there, watching the two girls who exuded an aura of academic excellence, without uttering a single word.

Every word they said seemed easy to understand, but upon closer reflection, the amount of information they contained was astonishing.

I don't even know which sentence to say if I want to interject.

She was afraid that she would make many mistakes in what she said and be laughed at by her younger sister Sakura Haruno.

No, no, no, my sister wouldn't laugh at him.

But that wretched girl, who has absolutely no femininity, will definitely seize the opportunity to mock him mercilessly.

After all, their relationship was extremely bad, and every time they met, it started with an argument... Of course, Neji selectively forgot that he was the one who provoked Sakura first every time.

Shouldn't all girls be as virtuous and gentle as my younger sister, or as quiet and lovely as her?

Women who are sharp-tongued, quick-witted, and incredibly capable are truly the most annoying.

"This is probably a clash of personalities," Neji thought to himself, making excuses for himself.

But Neji truly reflected on his actions?

He seemed to have gotten used to it, used to his sarcastic remarks when they met...

It's just like a child trying to get adult attention?

Neji Hyuga, feeling invisible, was a little sullen; he didn't like being invisible in front of these two.

(There's another recommendation this week, so I'll probably only update three chapters later. Please recommend, comment, and add more chapters!)

(Now I understand why some authors like how many words a chapter has. When I posted this chapter, I found I had written 000 words, and I instantly felt like I wasn't a lazy bum anymore. I felt so good.)

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