The Weight on His Shoulders Grew Heavier

"This is what you asked for!"

Natsu Hyuga shouted softly, and her palm suddenly changed into fingers.

"Watch out!"

Mito Uzumaki warned.

"She's turning her Chakra into 'needles'!"

Ninja World taijutsu was divided into "Hard Fist" and "Gentle Fist."

Hard Fist was taijutsu used by Ninja outside the Hyuga Clan, while Gentle Fist belonged to the Hyuga Clan.

In other words...

There were only two schools of taijutsu in the Ninja World.

The Hyuga school, and the non-Hyuga school.

A school did not represent lethality.

But the Hyuga Clan's Gentle Fist truly countered Hard Fist.

The reason was that the Hyuga Clan's Gentle Fist could destroy Chakra while... damaging the internal organs.

Turning Chakra into needles.

That was what Natsu Hyuga was doing.

The Chakra needles released from between her fingers could pierce through human skin and directly penetrate the body.

If the force was strong enough.

They could pierce from the front to the back, using Chakra needles to punch straight through a person.

It was equivalent to suffering a penetrating wound from an energy weapon.

Fist-and-kick taijutsu originally dealt blunt-force damage, which could be weakened or blocked by Ninja with resistance to blunt impacts.

But the Hyuga Clan's Gentle Fist could forcibly turn blunt-force damage into penetrating damage from sharp weapons.

Changing the attack type.

Was equivalent to changing its lethality.

What would happen if a needle pierced through a human body?

Jueming stomped the ground, leaned backward, and rapidly retreated.

Natsu Hyuga's attack swept through the air, missing by a hair.

Thud... Jueming fell onto the ground.

—He was incomparably practiced at it.

Then, Jueming casually grabbed a small stone from the ground and threw it over.

Natsu Hyuga caught it directly.

She could catch blades barehanded?

Jueming threw another one.

Natsu Hyuga caught another one.

Jueming swept up the small stones on the ground—

A handful of small stones mixed with dirt flew straight at her face.

"!"

Natsu Hyuga abruptly shut her eyes.

[Kidney Enhancement +1]

"Despicable...!"

With dirt splashed across her face and small stones pelting her body, she felt as though she had been struck by hail.

How powerful was Jueming's limb strength now?

Crushing most of his peers was no problem.

The next moment.

Jueming pulled out a pile of grass leaves from his pocket and hurled them at her face.

The tough grass leaves were like a pile of iron scraps.

"Ugh~!"

Natsu Hyuga cried out miserably and was struck all over again.

[Kidney Enhancement +1]

As Natsu Hyuga retreated step by step.

The people below the rooftop had no idea what was happening.

"What's going on?"

"No idea..."

All they saw was Jueming suddenly fall to the ground, then start throwing things.

After throwing things for a while, he began throwing grass leaves and directly broke through Natsu Hyuga's offensive.

"No way." Kakashi Hatake widened his eyes, feeling that something was off.

"Grass leaves can drive back a Hyuga Clan member?"

Kurenai Yuhi was deep in thought.

Naturally, they did not know.

The grass leaves Jueming threw were not ordinary grass leaves.

With the enhancement of the Grass Release Bloodline Limit.

Those grass leaves became terrifying weapons.

Even if they were merely thrown like stones, they instantly possessed strength comparable to metal fragments.

With powerful limb strength and extreme endurance.

Jueming repeatedly threw grass leaves without showing the slightest fatigue.

At a certain moment.

Jueming charged straight at her.

Natsu Hyuga closed her eyes and activated her Byakugan.

The veins around her eye sockets bulged.

The Byakugan's penetrating vision allowed her to see through the obstruction of her eyelids and spot Jueming.

A humanoid figure shining with Chakra rammed toward her.

"Gentle Fist!"

Natsu Hyuga's two fingers struck... a backpack.

Jueming carried the backpack and knocked her over.

[Kidney Enhancement +1]

"It seems the Hyuga Clan's Gentle Fist can't penetrate a very thick backpack... and the books inside."

Using the backpack as a weapon felt pretty good.

Natsu Hyuga immediately fell to the ground.

Jueming stepped forward, lowered his body, formed his right hand into a claw, and grabbed.

Natsu Hyuga felt a chill on her forehead—

"!"

Her eyes widened in terror.

"..."

Jueming's gaze narrowed slightly.

On Natsu Hyuga's forehead... there was clearly a pale green... Curse Mark!

[Kidney Enhancement +1]

[Kidney Enhancement +1]

[Kidney Enhancement +1]

[Kidney Enhancement +1]

[Kidney Enhancement +1]...

Night fell.

Jueming was still thinking about what had happened during the day.

After he saw the Curse Mark on Natsu Hyuga's forehead, she had run away crying.

She had not come to class that afternoon either.

Jueming successfully achieved an accomplishment.

—Sent two female classmates home so they would not come to class.

"That pale green Curse Mark..."

Jueming narrowed his eyes.

That afternoon, he had heard some whispers.

Something about the Hyuga Main Family and the Hyuga Branch Family...

Clearly, Natsu Hyuga was a member of the Hyuga Branch Family.

It was said that the Hyuga Main Family used a technique called the "Caged Bird Seal" to control the life and death of the Hyuga Branch Family.

With a single thought, a Branch Family Member would die.

"System, is there any way to remove the Caged Bird Seal?"

Jueming rarely asked the system a question.

The answer was... yes.

"There were at least two methods" that could allow members of the Hyuga Clan's Branch Family to escape the Caged Bird Seal.

The first...

Was to reach the Six Paths Level designated by the system and use Six Paths Level Yin-Yang Release to erase the Caged Bird.

The second...

Was to use a later skill from [Grass Release - Grass].

But that was still far away for now. He still needed to work hard.

"Natsu Hyuga is very suitable for continuing the bloodline of my Senju Clan. How can I let her be controlled by the Hyuga Main Family?"

Jueming's desire to grow stronger deepened further.

"Senju Jueming."

Mito Uzumaki's faint voice rang out.

"What you did during the day was too excessive."

You exposed Natsu Hyuga's scar and let everyone see it.

What did that mean for a Little Girl?

"If you had told me about her sooner, this wouldn't have happened."

Jueming answered calmly.

I already asked you.

You refused to tell me, so naturally I made my own decision based on what I knew.

"Hmph..."

Mito Uzumaki snorted coldly.

She decided... not to speak much to Jueming anymore.

Just wait for your punishment.

Unable to tolerate Jueming's various vile actions any longer, she decided to punish this disobedient junior.

Late at night.

Jueming closed his eyes and listened as the clock struck twelve.

When the notification of increased stamina arrived.

Jueming silently looked toward the system panel as well.

After defeating Natsu Hyuga, [Scrap Achieved] and the skill point shone.

That meant he could freely choose another skill, or light up the [Grass Release - Illusion] Skill Tree.

However... there was no hurry for now.

He had to first see what Mito Uzumaki would do before preparing his own countermeasure.

Thinking that, Jueming slowly fell asleep...

Early the next morning.

Jueming got up, then discovered that he had lost control of his lower body.

After checking, he found that his legs could not move, while only his upper body remained mobile.

So...

"I... am paralyzed?"