Soft Fist

Hyuga Matsuba rubbed his eyes, then began preparing his breakfast.

After finishing breakfast, Hyuga Matsuba didn't head to the back mountain for training. Instead, he started chakra refinement in his living room.

Today was the day the clan distributed allowances, and Hyuga Matsuba was running low on funds. He couldn't afford to miss this good opportunity to collect money just because of training.

For now, Hyuga Matsuba still had to rely on this money, along with what his father had left behind when he passed away.

The clock on the wall had already struck eight. Hyuga Matsuba suddenly stood up, sensing someone approaching.

Soon, a man entered Hyuga Matsuba's house—a chunin in his early thirties who managed the clan's allowance distribution.

The visitor looked at Hyuga Matsuba as if he were a fly, tossing the money onto the bed. "Here, this is for you."

Then, as if remembering something, the man rummaged through his backpack and finally pulled out a tattered book, throwing it onto Hyuga Matsuba's bed.

"This is the chakra refinement method, plus a clan jutsu. Ah, I already told you, giving this to trash like you is useless, but I have to follow the rules. The clan sure is generous to you!"

Before Hyuga Matsuba could say anything, the chunin left, not even bothering to close the door behind him.

"Did I eat your rice or something? Why do you hate me so much?" Hyuga Matsuba muttered with a pout.

Hyuga Matsuba picked up the book. Besides what the chunin had mentioned, it contained the chakra extraction method and a jutsu called Gentle Fist Style: Eight Trigrams Sixty-Four Palms.

"Speak of the devil. I was just worrying about jutsu, and here it comes." Hyuga Matsuba clicked his tongue, carefully stowed the book away, and walked out the door.

When Hyuga Matsuba arrived at the training ground today, he followed his usual routine, summoning clones. Then he pulled the ragged book from his backpack and ordered ten clones to start studying it.

After issuing the command, Hyuga Matsuba began his own work. The sun slowly slanted westward, and just as it was about to set, the ten clones suddenly merged into a beam of light and returned to Hyuga Matsuba's body. It seemed he had mastered the fist technique.

Hyuga Matsuba found the largest tree and assumed the starting stance for the jutsu. Soon, a formation slowly emerged, encircling the tree. He shouted the technique loudly: "Eight Trigrams Sixty-Four Palms!"

"Two palms!"

"Three palms!"

"Four palms!"

And so, Hyuga Matsuba called out each palm count like an idiot, the faint glow of chakra swirling around his palms. His hands began preparing various moves, all of which struck the tree trunk.

"Boom!" A tremendous sound rang out. The tree, with its large diameter, had been battered to a certain degree by the Eight Trigrams Sixty-Four Palms. Its core couldn't withstand the immense pressure anymore and burst apart, filling the sky with countless wood chips.

"So this is why the clan doesn't bother practicing it seriously. This jutsu's power is no joke. If I had to rank it, it'd definitely be high-level."

"They'd never believe I could master it. Their biggest flaw is looking down on others. Otherwise, they wouldn't have handed over such a powerful jutsu manual so easily."

"Even though I've learned it now, I can't use it in public. If the clan finds out, they won't go easy on me."

Hyuga Matsuba rubbed his head, reminding himself in time.

Hyuga Matsuba suddenly froze, as if a thought struck him. "Wait, they always follow this fixed pattern—pressure point strikes first, then Gentle Fist. If I break that pattern, would those idiots even notice?"

"Anyway, this routine has always been rigid, and no one questions it. But who says using Gentle Fist alone has no power? My real treasure isn't this kind of thing. As long as they don't find out about my Tenseigan, everything's fine."

With that thought, Hyuga Matsuba nodded in satisfaction. His little brain was pretty sharp. Although breaking the established pattern might reduce the jutsu's power, this method was still effective—at least usable in public.

"But I don't really need this jutsu right now. I'll wait until I'm strong enough before worrying about other things."

After using the Shadow Clone Jutsu again, many clones appeared around Hyuga Matsuba. He ordered them to engage in one-on-one or one-against-many combat training.

After all, talking too much is no substitute for real experience. Many ninja graduates who've learned countless jutsu end up being treated like trash on the battlefield because they lack practical combat experience.

Otsutsuki Kaguya was the best example. Naturally clever and highly talented, she learned many jutsu and should have been incredibly capable. But with pitifully little combat experience, she could barely defend herself against powerful enemies.

That wasn't the level Hyuga Matsuba should aim for. With such good innate conditions, if he couldn't beat anyone, wouldn't that be a waste of his abilities? All his training would be for nothing—his bloodline, his Tenseigan... just thinking about it felt like a crime against nature.

The clones didn't have to worry about getting hurt, so they went all out with every move, each one lethal.

Hyuga Matsuba continued his own practice while keeping an eye on the clones with his peripheral vision. He carefully observed their performance in battle, constantly accumulating experience. This was the most direct method.

"Not many people work as hard as I do—up early, late to bed, training like crazy. I bet I'm the only one in the entire Naruto World!"

It sounded like Hyuga Matsuba was bragging, but the rough words held truth. Few in the clan could match his effort. Forget about Might Duy and his son—they weren't even on the same level.

Day after day, year after year, through cold winters and scorching summers, Hyuga Matsuba's sweat-soaked figure was always present at the back mountain training ground. His world consisted of home and the training ground, a life that was even a bit dull.

In this monotonous existence, unexpected but amusing things sometimes happened. For instance, after getting beaten, Hizashi Hyuga thought he could finally defeat Hyuga Matsuba after some time. He came straight to the doorstep, ready for revenge.

But Hyuga Matsuba taught him a lesson, kicking him so hard he practically sent Hizashi Hyuga from the doorstep to the training ground. Hizashi Hyuga lost all confidence in life and clearly understood life's hardships. He arrived full of hope and left dejected.

Aside from that, the main staple of Hyuga Matsuba's daily life was nothing more than others' sneers and mockery. But after so long, he had grown indifferent to all of it.

Hyuga Matsuba was an optimistic person. Though he dragged his exhausted body home every night, he always felt he was getting closer to his dream. He immersed himself in his own little world every day, finding joy in each small step of progress.

Time flew by. In the blink of an eye, another year had slipped away. Hyuga Matsuba developed quickly—just in terms of height, he was already much taller than his peers.

But it wasn't just his height that grew that year. His abilities had also improved significantly.

His chakra had now accumulated to a certain level, reaching Kage-level. In terms of raw power, he could already be counted among the notable figures in the Naruto World.

However, in chakra purity, Hyuga Matsuba still had plenty of room for improvement. His current level in that area was merely average. This was his weakness—he had the ability of a jonin, but the power of his jutsu hadn't yet reached jonin level.

But purely in terms of physical strength, Hyuga Matsuba had clearly improved. If it came down to a contest of pure power, he wouldn't lose to a jonin.

Hyuga Matsuba felt his skills had probably reached the Elite Jonin level. Unfortunately, he had zero practical combat experience, so if a real fight broke out, his situation could become dangerous.

In this Naruto World, he had finally figured out what determined rank: chakra purity and combat ability. If it were based on chakra quantity, then everyone from the Senju Clan and Uzumaki Clan would be gods.

"Regardless of what criteria you use to divide things, what's on the battlefield is the most precious. Otherwise, just looking at my abilities alone, even Kage-level fighters can't do much to me right now." Hyuga Matsuba gave himself a very objective evaluation.

This statement was truly objective—Hyuga Matsuba hadn't consumed the Glint-Glint Fruit for nothing. If he ever ran into real danger, couldn't he retreat safely without a hitch?

With the help of the Glint-Glint Fruit, Hyuga Matsuba's speed had reached that of light. Even if someone could manipulate time and space, they still couldn't catch him.

Kizaru's techniques were also ones he had developed himself. Hyuga Matsuba had chosen Kizaru, a formidable figure, as his template for training and had already achieved considerable results, saving him a lot of time.

The sun was already high in the sky. Today, Hyuga Matsuba wasn't in a rush to head to the back mountain. There wasn't much room for improvement through further training anyway—his age was currently limiting many things.

Even with his immense training volume, his current level had hit a ceiling and couldn't advance further. If he wanted to significantly boost his strength, only the Super Serum could achieve that effect.

But that thing was a treasure, and Hyuga Matsuba felt a bit reluctant to part with it.