Gentle Fist

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

After breakfast, Hyuga Matsuba did not go to the back mountain to train. Instead, he began extracting Chakra in his living room.

Today was the day the clan handed out allowances. Hyuga Matsuba did not have much money left, so he could not miss this good opportunity to collect some.

For now, Hyuga Matsuba still had to live off this money and the money his father had left behind when he died.

The clock hands had already reached eight when Hyuga Matsuba suddenly stood up, sensing that someone had arrived.

Soon, someone entered Hyuga Matsuba's home. He was a Chunin in his early thirties who handled allowance distribution within the clan.

When the man saw Hyuga Matsuba, he looked as though he had seen a fly and tossed the money onto the bed. "Hey, this is your money."

The man suddenly seemed to remember something. He rummaged through his backpack for a while before finally pulling out a tattered book and throwing it onto Hyuga Matsuba's bed.

"This contains the method for extracting Chakra, along with a clan Ninjutsu. Ha, I already said giving trash like you something like this is useless, but the rules say it has to be distributed. The clan really has treated you well!"

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 dislike me so much?" Hyuga Matsuba curled his lip.

Hyuga Matsuba picked up the book. Aside from the Chakra extraction method the Chunin had mentioned, it also recorded a Ninjutsu called the Gentle Fist Style: Eight Trigrams Sixty-Four Palms.

"Just what I needed. I was worrying about Ninjutsu a moment ago, and now one has fallen into my lap." Hyuga Matsuba pursed his lips, carefully put away the book, and walked out the door.

When Hyuga Matsuba arrived at the Training Ground that day, he followed his usual routine and summoned clones. Then he took out the battered book from his backpack and ordered ten clones to study it.

After issuing his orders, Hyuga Matsuba began his own training. The sun slowly dipped westward, and when it was nearly sunset, the ten clones suddenly gathered together and turned into a beam of light that returned to Hyuga Matsuba's body. It seemed he had mastered the palm technique.

Hyuga Matsuba found the largest tree and assumed the stance to activate the Ninjutsu. Soon, a formation slowly emerged around the tree. He shouted as he unleashed the technique, "Eight Trigrams Sixty-Four Palms!"

"Second Palm!"

"Third Palm!"

"Fourth Palm!"

Like an idiot, Hyuga Matsuba slowly called out each successive palm strike. A faint Chakra glow lingered around his palms as his hands shifted through various forms, every strike landing on the tree trunk.

Bang! A tremendous crash rang out. After being struck by the Eight Trigrams Sixty-Four Palms, the massive tree had been damaged to a certain extent. Its core could no longer withstand such immense pressure and burst apart, filling the sky with countless wood chips.

"So there really is a reason this clan focuses so much on training. This Ninjutsu is seriously powerful. If it were ranked by level, it would at least count as high-grade."

"They definitely never believed I could master it. Their greatest flaw is looking down on others. Otherwise, they would not have so casually handed such a powerful Ninjutsu manual to me."

"Although I have learned it now, I cannot use it in public. If the clan finds out, they definitely will not go easy on me."

Hyuga Matsuba rubbed his head, reminding himself in time.

Hyuga Matsuba suddenly froze, as though something had occurred to him. "Wait, they have always followed the same fixed routine. They use Pressure Point Strikes first, then the Gentle Fist. If I do not follow that routine, would those idiots fail to recognize it?"

"Anyway, that routine has always been rigid, and no one has ever questioned it. But who says the Gentle Fist has no power when used alone? This is not even my most precious ability. As long as they do not know about my Tenseigan, everything will be fine."

Thinking this, Hyuga Matsuba nodded in satisfaction. His little brain really was clever. Although breaking away from the original routine might weaken the Ninjutsu, the method was undeniably effective. At the very least, he could use it in public.

"But it seems I do not need this Ninjutsu right now. I should wait until I am strong enough before worrying about anything else."

After using the Shadow Clone Jutsu once more, many clones appeared beside Hyuga Matsuba. He ordered them to conduct one-on-one and one-against-many combat training.

After all, no amount of talk compared to experiencing it firsthand. Many ninja graduates who had learned countless Ninjutsu were dealt with like trash on the battlefield simply because they lacked actual combat experience.

Otsutsuki Kaguya was the best example. She had been born intelligent and possessed extraordinary talent, learning many Ninjutsu. Logically, she should have been immensely powerful, yet with so little combat experience, she could barely protect herself when facing powerful enemies.

That was not a state Hyuga Matsuba should ever reach. He had such excellent innate conditions; if he truly could not defeat anyone, would that not be a complete waste of his abilities? All his years of training would have been wasted as well. His bloodline, his Tenseigan... just thinking about it felt like a terrible waste.

The clones did not need to worry about getting injured. They simply used whatever moves they had, every strike aimed to kill.

Hyuga Matsuba continued his own training while observing the clones from the corner of his eye. He carefully watched their performance in battle, constantly accumulating experience from it. This was the most direct method.

"Not many people work as hard as I do. Up early, asleep late, training my heart out. In the entire Naruto World, I am probably the only one!"

It sounded as if Hyuga Matsuba was bragging, but crude as the words were, they made sense. There truly were few in the clan who could match his effort. Do not even mention people like Might Duy and his son; they were not on the same level at all.

Day after day, year after year, through bitter cold and scorching heat, Hyuga Matsuba could always be found sweating at the back mountain Training Ground. Aside from his home, the Training Ground was where he spent his time, and his life had even become somewhat bland and tedious.

Of course, unexpected yet interesting things occasionally happened amid that plain, boring life. For example, after being beaten up, Hizashi Hyuga spent some time believing he could defeat Hyuga Matsuba. He actually came straight to Hyuga Matsuba's door, ready to take revenge.

But Hyuga Matsuba gave him a taste of his own medicine. He went straight in with a kick, nearly sending Hizashi Hyuga flying from the doorway all the way to the Training Ground. It completely crushed Hizashi Hyuga's confidence in life and made him understand how hard life truly was. Hizashi Hyuga had arrived full of confidence and left utterly dejected.

Other than that, the main feature of Hyuga Matsuba's life was nothing more than other people's mockery and ridicule. Fortunately, after becoming accustomed to it for so long, he no longer cared about such things.

Hyuga Matsuba was a very optimistic person. Although he dragged his exhausted body home every night, he always felt that he was getting closer to his dream. He immersed himself in his own little world every day, happy over each tiny bit of progress.

Time passed quickly. In the blink of an eye, another year slipped away. Hyuga Matsuba developed quickly, and in terms of height alone, he had already surpassed many children his age.

But Hyuga Matsuba's growth over that year was not limited to his height. His abilities had also improved significantly.

His Chakra had now accumulated to a certain level, reaching the Kage-level. In truth, his current strength was already among the notable powers of the Naruto World.

However, Hyuga Matsuba still had plenty of room to improve in terms of Chakra purity. His current level in that regard was merely average. This was where Hyuga Matsuba suffered; he possessed the ability of a Jonin, but the power of his Ninjutsu had not yet reached the level of a Jonin.

Yet in terms of physical strength alone, Hyuga Matsuba had improved considerably. If it came down purely to a contest of strength, he would not lose to a Jonin.

Hyuga Matsuba felt that his abilities had reached the level of an Elite Jonin. Unfortunately, he had no real combat experience, so if he truly fought someone, his situation might become rather dangerous.

In this Naruto World, he had finally figured out what determined rankings: Chakra purity and combat ability. If rankings were based on the amount of Chakra alone, then everyone in the Senju Clan and Uzumaki Clan would be gods.

"No matter what is used to rank people, what matters most is the battlefield. Otherwise, judging by my abilities alone, even Kage-level opponents would not be able to do much to me." Hyuga Matsuba assessed himself quite objectively.

That statement truly was objective. Hyuga Matsuba had not eaten the Glint-Glint Fruit for nothing. If he really encountered danger, could he not retreat safely and unharmed?

With the help of the Glint-Glint Fruit, Hyuga Matsuba's speed had already reached the speed of light. Even if someone could manipulate space and time, they still would not be able to catch him.

Kizaru's techniques had also been self-developed. Hyuga Matsuba had chosen that powerful figure as a model for his training and had already achieved good results, saving himself quite a bit of time.

The sun was already high in the sky, but Hyuga Matsuba was not in a hurry to head to the back mountain that day. Further training would not leave much room for improvement; his age now limited him in many ways.

Even though Hyuga Matsuba trained intensely, his current level had already reached a ceiling and could not improve further. If he wanted to significantly raise his strength again, only the Super Serum could achieve that.

But that thing was a treasure, and Hyuga Matsuba was somewhat reluctant to use it.