Kiyoshi Hyuga

White patterns carved across the sky, transforming into blossoms that drifted down everywhere.

Jin reached out and caught a scattering snowflake.

"It's snowing."

The ground was covered in a layer of white.

Although he had only changed from short sleeves to long sleeves and shorts to long pants, he did not feel cold at all.

One major benefit of Basic Inner Cultivation was immunity to heat and cold.

As he walked down the street, his gaze swept over the passing ninjas. Though their clothing was fairly thin as well, their resistance had been trained into them and had nothing to do with Chakra.

The Ninja Academy began heat- and cold-resistance training early on. Once they had grown accustomed to all kinds of hardship from childhood, they could naturally endure it.

There was also pain endurance training.

He arrived at the usual place.

The dilapidated, abandoned training ground was already blanketed in pure white snow.

Only the ground before one wooden post remained exposed.

He saw a figure pounding the wooden post as though venting his frustration.

"Kiyoshi Hyuga!" Jin called out.

The white-clad Kiyoshi Hyuga did not turn around immediately. He first adjusted his forehead protector before turning back.

"Jin." Kiyoshi Hyuga greeted him. "I thought none of you would come anymore."

Ever since becoming a ninja, he had been the only one who kept coming here to train.

He had not seen Uchiha Jin and the other two for a long time.

Jin walked over and shrugged.

"We've been doing those make-believe missions."

Watching over elderly people, looking after children, carrying goods, planting rice, harvesting wheat.

To him, it was all just make-believe.

Hearing that, the smile on Kiyoshi Hyuga's face became somewhat forced.

He, too, longed to do make-believe missions with his teammates.

Unfortunately.

As though he had not noticed anything wrong with Kiyoshi Hyuga, Jin asked, "Where are your teammates?"

He had been asleep at the time, so he did not know who Kiyoshi Hyuga's teammates were.

Kiyoshi Hyuga fell silent. He lowered his head to look at the snow covering the ground beneath his feet, as if he, too, had been buried underneath it.

Wasn't the Hyuga Clan like this? The Branch Family were corpses buried in the earth.

He suddenly raised his head and looked at Jin.

"Uchiha Jin, fight me."

Bang!

With a violent crash, Kiyoshi Hyuga's body slammed into the wooden post.

The post snapped afterward, and he fell to the ground.

Looking at the snowflakes filling the sky, he suddenly began to laugh, his laughter growing louder and louder.

"Hehe, hahahahaha!!!"

He laughed until tears streamed from the corners of his eyes.

The pain in his body was not even a fraction of the pain in his heart.

"The gap really is huge. You monster."

He had not even had time to react. A single blow had defeated him.

"I don't agree with that description."

Jin stood above him, looking down like an insurmountable mountain.

Uchiha.

They really were terrifying.

"I have no interest in prying into the mess within your Hyuga Clan, but if you like being a punching bag, I'll be happy to oblige."

One look at Kiyoshi Hyuga's state was enough for Jin to know it was because of the Hyuga Clan's nonsense.

Every year, the Ninja Academy had at least one Hyuga member suffer an emotional breakdown. Most could not bear it after receiving the Caged Bird and gradually became withdrawn and taciturn.

Someone like Kiyoshi Hyuga, who only broke down after graduation, was actually rare.

After all, he had been held back two grades.

Jin was used to it.

"I see."

Kiyoshi Hyuga seemed tired from laughing. He suddenly asked a question.

"Jin, you're a genius at creating ninjutsu, right?"

"So what?"

"Can you develop a ninjutsu that removes the Caged Bird?"

Jin did not answer. Instead, he raised his head to look at the sky.

Kiyoshi Hyuga looked up as well and began to speak of what had happened to him.

"At first, I didn't really care much about something like the Caged Bird. I only thought that as long as I stayed far away from the Main Branch, I could have freedom."

"But I never expected that even after thinking that way, I still couldn't escape."

"When genin teams were assigned, my uncle took me away. I became the guard of Hyuga Hiashi, a Main Branch member. Calling me a guard was just a nicer way of saying I was his personal slave."

"My uncle even told me to be grateful for the clan's great kindness! Hahaha! Isn't that hilarious?"

Kiyoshi Hyuga's expression twisted viciously.

"My parents died for members of the Hyuga Main Branch. Must I follow in their footsteps too?"

"Why?!"

Just because he was from the Branch Family, his entire family had to use their lives to protect the Main Branch.

His parents had already sacrificed themselves for that.

Wasn't that enough?

Jin lowered his head and looked at Kiyoshi Hyuga's hate-filled face.

Just how much hatred was buried within the Hyuga Clan?

Then if the Caged Bird technique disappeared one day...

What would happen?

That sounded rather interesting.

The corners of Jin's lips curled up.

"Value. What value can you offer me?"

Kiyoshi Hyuga stared blankly at Uchiha Jin. He had only been venting and looking for someone to confide in.

But things seemed to be far from simple.

"You can do it."

Kiyoshi Hyuga wanted to ask whether Jin truly could, but he had heard of Jin's reputation within the clan.

The creator of Basic Inner Cultivation.

It was said that many people were now desperately earning merits just to exchange for that ninjutsu.

He also knew about the Four Styles of taijutsu Jin had created.

All kinds of titles kept being placed upon him.

A hidden genius, a hardworking genius, a genius comparable to the Second Hokage.

There were far too many titles.

Then what if?!

What if he really could accomplish what every member of the Branch Family dreamed of?

Kiyoshi Hyuga quickly rose, knelt in the snow, and slammed his forehead heavily into the ground with a dull thud.

A hint of crimson stained the snow.

"Kiyoshi Hyuga is willing to offer everything to Lord Jin!"

He was willing to gamble everything. No one from the Branch Family could refuse the temptation of removing the Caged Bird.

"No, there's no rush yet." Jin shook his head, a hidden malice in his smile. "When I truly accomplish it, I hope you won't go back on your word."

He hoped the Hyuga Clan could bear it.

Jin sat atop a relatively intact wooden post.

He watched Kiyoshi Hyuga's departing back.

He was confident about removing the Caged Bird.

After all, he had a Golden Finger. How could something like the Caged Bird stump him?

But the Caged Bird was connected even to the soul. It would not be so easy to resolve.

"For now, it really is difficult."

Jin glanced at the method for removing Caged Bird in Deduction.

Change bodies, then remove it as though undoing a sealing technique.

How was that any different from telling someone to die?

"Jin, what are you thinking about?"

Only then did Kushina Uzumaki and Minato Namikaze arrive belatedly.

"I saw Kiyoshi Hyuga just now. He didn't seem to be in a good mood."

Jin answered as if nothing had happened.

"Kiyoshi Hyuga? I haven't seen him in a long time." Minato Namikaze looked toward the vague figure in the distance.

He often saw the others who had become part of ninja teams while carrying out missions.

Only Kiyoshi Hyuga had never appeared again.

It seemed to be because of some issue within the Hyuga Clan.

Minato Namikaze did not know about the Caged Bird.

Not everyone knew about such matters.

"Next time we run into him, we have to ask what he's been doing."

Kushina did not know about the Hyuga Clan's affairs either. Such things generally only circulated among ninja clans.

"Let's hope so."

Jin looked at the two of them. They were both dressed in simple casual clothes, not bulky at all, wearing nearly identical outfits all year round.

It was absurd.

"What are you planning to teach us today?" Kushina asked eagerly.

Jin rolled his eyes.

"I'm planning to teach Minato. If you can learn it, you can join in."

"Who wants to learn your stuff?"

Kushina snorted, made a face at Jin, and pushed Minato Namikaze forward.

Minato Namikaze smiled awkwardly.

"By the way, Minato, what did you call that technique you created?" Jin's expression suddenly changed as he asked.

The moment that was brought up, Minato Namikaze perked up.

"Dazzling Dance, Raging Wind, Swift Wind Cry! Four Styles! Cool name, right?"

Jin: ...

Kushina: ...

"What kind of ridiculous name is that?!"

Kushina's face was full of rejection. Why did it have to be such a long name?

She did not understand.

Jin rolled his eyes as well.

"Don't call it that from now on. I'm afraid you'll get beaten to death before you finish saying it."

Minato Namikaze scratched his cheek awkwardly. He genuinely thought it sounded good.

"From now on, call it Steel Tempest."

"But that name doesn't really fit."

Minato Namikaze wanted to refuse. No matter how he thought about it, "tempest" sounded like it had something to do with swordsmanship.

He felt his own name was better.

"It fits very well with the technique I'm going to teach you."

Jin spoke meaningfully.

He took out a kunai from his Ninja Tool Pouch.

"I'll let you experience it first."

"Gladly."

Minato Namikaze also drew a kunai.

In the next instant, their figures collided. With a clang, sparks flew from the scraping kunai.

Kushina had already climbed into a tree and was watching their battle.

Jin and Minato Namikaze crossed paths, a wisp of wind winding around Jin's body.

Minato Namikaze frowned. He felt a portion of the Chakra in his body vanish.

In the next instant, the two collided once more.

With another clang, they swiftly separated again.

Minato Namikaze saw wind swirling around Jin, and a considerable amount of Chakra in his body had been drained.

"What a strange ninjutsu."

"Minato, watch carefully."

Jin gripped the kunai in both hands and slashed downward through the air at Minato Namikaze.

"Steel Cutting Flash!!"

A blue wind blade appeared out of nowhere.

With a piercing howl, it reached him in an instant.

Minato Namikaze's pupils dilated. He had no time to react.

He immediately used Steel Tempest, throwing himself into the air with the wind at full force.

The swirling blue wind blade swept past.

Only a continuous series of tearing sounds could be heard.

Minato Namikaze looked back.

The forest behind him had been carved into a path.

"A ninjutsu created specifically to make up for your lack of offensive power."

Jin grinned.

The principle was to first seal a Chakra-absorbing technique into the kunai, then absorb the enemy's Chakra when it collided with them.

Then use the Chakra within the body to transform it into wind and connect with the Chakra inside the kunai.

Two layers of wind pressure, outer and inner, would form to maintain stability, but it had to be released quickly, or the Chakra within the kunai would dissipate.

Its power depended on one's mastery of the technique, which could raise its upper limit.

The Golden Finger was forever divine.

Although it had taken less than ten seconds to create, it had taken him an entire night to master it.

"So strong!"

Minato Namikaze exclaimed.