Self-Study, Is It That Difficult?

"Please be careful." Yuzuru Hyuga also wore a smile, but he seemed unhurried, not even assuming the starting stance of Gentle Fist. Instead, he pulled out two kunai, let Katon Hyuga see them clearly, and then casually tossed them.

The next moment, the two kunai shot forward with a whoosh.

"So fast!" a child exclaimed.

For an ordinary ninja, the throwing speed of those kunai was merely passable and average, but considering Yuzuru Hyuga's age...

Katon Hyuga was somewhat surprised that his younger clan brother already displayed a throwing speed at the level of a Genin, but he didn't find it troublesome. He simply glared with his Byakugan, raised his kunai, and clanged twice to deflect them. However, the next instant, he was startled by Yuzuru Hyuga's speed.

The moment he blocked the kunai, Yuzuru Hyuga had already charged right in front of him.

The abundant chakra on his fists flickered with a startling arc of light, and each continuous strike of Gentle Fist carried a fierce whistling wind.

Hyuga Hiashi watched this scene, narrowing his eyes. "Hizashi, I didn't expect Yuzuru to have grown to this point already."

Little did he know, Hizashi Hyuga was equally surprised. He only knew that Yuzuru Hyuga trained with extreme diligence, but he had no idea of his current strength.

Just from his power and agility, it was clear that the strength Yuzuru Hyuga was showing now was at least at the level of a Genin.

And, if nothing unexpected happened...

Hizashi Hyuga's expression turned grave.

"Hah!" Katon Hyuga fought with growing anxiety. He felt immense pressure from Yuzuru Hyuga. A mere four-year-old child, yet his strength and speed surpassed his own—it was impossible!

Just as he pulled himself together and began to think about how to find an opening to counterattack in Yuzuru Hyuga's onslaught...

"The match is decided!"

A fist broke through his relentless stream of punches and stopped right in front of his face.

Yuzuru Hyuga smiled. "I accept your concession."

"Winner, Yuzuru Hyuga!" Hyuga Hiashi announced the result with a smile.

Behind him, the applause and cheers for Yuzuru Hyuga rang out belatedly.

"Well fought, little Yuzuru!"

"A genius of the Branch House!"

"Yuzuru!"

But Yuzuru Hyuga did not leave. Instead, amid the cheers, he stared at Hyuga Hiashi without moving.

He adjusted his black-rimmed glasses, smiled, and dropped a bombshell. "Lord Hiashi, could I... fight one more match?"

"There's something else I want to show everyone." He put on a respectful demeanor, looking deeply eager. "Please."

The cheers and applause faltered. Even Katon Hyuga, frustrated and dejected by his loss, looked at his opponent, who had easily defeated him, with stunned eyes.

A few unfriendly gazes fixed on Yuzuru Hyuga. Some Hyuga clan members from the Main House looked at him with complicated expressions, and faint murmurs of indignation could be heard.

Something along the lines of, "He got lucky beating Katon Hyuga, and now he won't quit while he's ahead—doesn't know his place."

Hyuga Hiashi glanced at Hizashi Hyuga. Seeing that his younger brother remained silent, he showed an interested but slightly regretful smile. "Is that so? But the match schedule is already set, so..."

"I'd like to spar with Senior Shion Hyuga."

Yuzuru Hyuga's words plunged the Hyuga clan into an eerie silence.

He smiled, gently touching his glasses, and his next words left everyone unsure how to react.

"I want to see just how strong a Main House senior who has truly mastered the Hyuga-style taijutsu and the Eight Trigrams Sixty-Four Palms really is."

"Please, Lord Hiashi."

Hyuga Hiashi looked at Yuzuru Hyuga. For the first time, he saw a sharp, cutting edge beneath that gentle face.

A genius?

Hyuga Hiashi's thoughts were complicated.

On one hand, it was a good thing for the Hyuga clan to produce a genius ninja who, at only four years old, possessed at least Genin-level strength.

The Uchiha Clan had produced many talented individuals in recent years, and while the Hyuga clan had a considerable number of Jonin, they lacked any prominent figures like "Body Flicker Shisui," "Yellow Flash," "the Sannin," or "the Ino-Shika-Cho Trio."

But on the other hand... when that genius appeared in the Branch House, it was inevitable that, as long as he refused to be mediocre, he would clash with the Main House.

This fool. If he wanted to learn those techniques, he could have just asked Hizashi to teach him in private, learned them on the sly. Why did he have to put the conflict so openly on the table?

Regardless, he was still his nephew and the future head of the Hyuga clan's Branch House. Bending a few rigid rules wouldn't be out of the question.

Hyuga Hiashi sighed inwardly. Some things... Yuzuru Hyuga was still too young to understand.

But at that moment, Hizashi Hyuga suddenly spoke up. "Yuzuru, Shion is a Chunin, and in a few days, he might even be promoted to Jonin!"

"Don't let pride blind you!" he scolded Yuzuru Hyuga.

Hyuga Hiashi suddenly asked, "Shion, what do you think?"

The ninja called Shion Hyuga stood coldly in the crowd. A seasoned ninja tempered by war had long learned not to be easily swayed by emotion. But even so, Yuzuru Hyuga's challenge stirred a hint of anger at being provoked.

Calling me out by name... does he have the confidence to beat me?

He stepped forward, his white eyes glancing calmly at Yuzuru Hyuga, and replied flatly, "I leave it to Lord Hiashi's discretion."

"Lord Hiashi, if you ask me, we might as well let Shion spar with him and take him down a peg." Hizashi Hyuga shot Yuzuru Hyuga a cold snort, his tone carrying a clear note of disappointment over unfulfilled potential.

Hyuga Hiashi paused in thought for a moment, then nodded. "Very well, then we'll add one more match on the spot. Shion, be careful not to hurt him."

"Yes." Hyuga Shion's eyes rested calmly on Yuzuru Hyuga, tracing the green markings on his forehead with a cold smirk.

Even if he was Lord Hizashi's son, he needed to understand.

No matter how much of a prodigy he was, the gap between the Main House and the Branch House was beyond what he could imagine!

Yuzuru Hyuga merely kept his gentle smile and replied respectfully, "Thank you, Lord Hiashi!"

He turned to face Hyuga Shion, his tone earnest. "Please fight me with everything you've got!"

"Mm." Hyuga Shion lifted his head, his Byakugan betraying no emotion as he quietly raised his hands.

Fine then. Let's keep it simple and end this fight.

The power of the Eight Trigrams Sixty-Four Palms.

The strength of the Hyuga Main House—it will make you despair!

As the crowd watched a sixteen-year-old youth stand opposite Yuzuru Hyuga, who was only four years old—his height barely reaching his opponent's waist—yet both had their hands forming the seal of confrontation, everyone couldn't help but feel a surreal sense of absurdity. Was this really not just bullying a child?

"Begin!"

The moment the command fell, Hyuga Shion settled into a low stance, his Byakugan flaring open as veins bulged around his eyes. He barked, "Eight Trigrams! Sixty-Four Palms!"

An invisible trigram domain seemed to spread beneath his feet, and every tenketsu on Yuzuru Hyuga's body lay fully exposed in the Byakugan's view.

Yuzuru Hyuga, however, still wore a smile as he assumed the standard opening stance of the Gentle Fist.

Secretly learn the Main House's forbidden techniques like Neji did?

No need.

In his view, no matter how the Hyuga clan's taijutsu evolved, it all boiled down to acupoint-striking techniques built on chakra-infused palm strikes and the Byakugan.

The greatest difficulty of the Sixty-Four Palms was nothing more than hitting the corresponding tenketsu in sequence to create a chain of strikes, along with that seemingly mysterious trigram domain.

But in the Byakugan's field of vision—that so-called domain was simply focusing the Byakugan's sight on a 360-degree area in close range, concentrating attention to track the chakra flow of an enemy or living being, predicting and controlling their movement direction.

To be honest, he'd already mastered that application on his own through Itachi.

And learning the order and method of striking the tenketsu was even simpler.

Just experience it firsthand.

Wouldn't that teach him?

So.

"Hah!" Hyuga Shion roared and charged forward.

Both hands extended only two fingers each, thrusting aggressively toward Yuzuru Hyuga.

Yuzuru Hyuga didn't dodge or evade. Veins bulging around his Byakugan, he simply began to parry defensively.

"Eight Trigrams! Two Palms!"

"Eight Trigrams! Eight Palms!"

"Eight Trigrams! Sixteen Palms!"

"Eight Trigrams! Thirty-Two Palms!"

"Eight Trigrams! Sixty-Four Palms!"

The terrifying speed of the chain strikes left the children who couldn't use the Byakugan utterly dazzled, unable to tell what those fists and palms—blurring into afterimages—were actually doing.

But for the Hyuga ninja who had all instinctively activated their Byakugan in unison, what unfolded in the arena made them hold their breath.

He blocked it!

Even though this was Yuzuru Hyuga's first time facing the Eight Trigrams Sixty-Four Palms, his exceptionally sharp reaction speed and his deep understanding and study of the human body's tenketsu allowed him to discern the general trajectory of the sixty-four strikes the moment his opponent moved, identify the target points, and predict and intercept them.

With his palm, his forearm, his shoulder—

By the end, half his body had its chakra flow stalled by the Eight Trigrams Sixty-Four Palms, and he was sent skidding back five or six meters, one hand scraping the ground in a messy retreat.

But Yuzuru Hyuga still didn't fall.

He rose slowly, his eyes seeming to ponder something, to gaze at something.

Hyuga Shion's face twisted with embarrassment. Even if his Eight Trigrams Sixty-Four Palms wasn't yet masterful, he had a solid grasp of its fundamentals and application. Facing a four-year-old child, and he couldn't even knock him down?

Too humiliating!

His combat instincts, honed on the battlefield, told him this was the moment to end the fight.

Even if you can withstand the Sixty-Four Palms, I've already struck some of your tenketsu. Your chakra can't flow—you're half a wooden dummy now.

What's the point of stubbornly holding on?

Fall now! Prodigy of the Branch House!

He leaped up in a single bound, driving his leg down in a brutal axe kick, showing no intention of holding back.

Even if Yuzuru Hyuga might be seriously injured from this.

"Rotation!"

A young yet steady voice rang out at that moment.

Hyuga Shion's Byakugan widened in disbelief.

How could this be? His chakra should be—

No, what he just said was... Rotation!?

"This is—!"

Hyuga Hiashi's face lost all composure. He stared in disbelief at the blue vortex that suddenly bloomed in the arena.

At the same time, whether from the Main House or the Branch House, everyone lost their calm and cried out in unison.

The vast blue vortex lasted for a second or two before vanishing. Hyuga Shion was sent flying back in a somewhat disheveled state, twisting midair, landing on one knee, then quickly rising.

"Who taught you Rotation!?" he barked angrily.

Yuzuru Hyuga reached up and adjusted his glasses. "I taught myself."

"Nonsense! How could anyone learn Rotation through self-study? And on top of that, you're only—" Hyuga Shion couldn't bring himself to finish the sentence you're only four years old.

But Yuzuru Hyuga merely smiled gently. "Senior Shion, the battle isn't over yet."

He stepped forward, stopping at a certain distance, then suddenly stood still. He spread his palms open—the starting stance was exactly the same as what Hyuga Shion had used earlier.

"Thank you for your instruction. Please, take a look at what I've learned from you, Senior."

"Eight Trigrams: Sixty-Four Palms!"

In other words, these secret techniques of the Hyuga Clan—

As long as one possessed the same Byakugan and basic knowledge of the chakra points—

They were really easy to learn!

"Eight Trigrams: Two Palms!"

Until Yuzuru Hyuga's hands struck directly in front of him, Hyuga Shion's mind was still occupied with the thought that he was bluffing.

But when his chakra was instantly frozen, his body went limp, and he could no longer move—

Only then did he finally realize.

Yuzuru Hyuga—

He wasn't joking!