Somewhat surprised, Hyuga Kagami set down his teacup and gave Neji an interested look. "It seems I don't need to say any more of that comforting nonsense today."
Neji bowed. "I've troubled you!"
Hyuga Kagami shook his head. "As your teacher, helping you adjust your mindset is something I should be doing. By the way, are your injuries better now?"
Neji moved his arm. "Much better already."
As the Hokage's disciple, Neji naturally received special care at Konoha Hospital. After only one day in bed, he was discharged alongside Sasuke, Naruto, and the others.
Hyuga Kagami nodded and asked, "How is your training in the 'Eight Inner Gates' progressing?"
Seeing Hyuga Kagami ask about his training, Neji quickly straightened up. "I'm very sorry. At present, I can only barely open the first gate, the 'Gate of Opening.' I still can't open the second gate, the 'Gate of Healing.'"
Hyuga Kagami frowned.
This pace might have been normal for an ordinary person, but for Neji, who was known as a genius and had trained in taijutsu since childhood, it was undoubtedly rather slow.
After asking Neji a few more questions about his training, Hyuga Kagami quickly found the crux of the problem.
Although the Gentle Fist and Steel Fist were both taijutsu, their differing styles meant that ninjas who practiced the Gentle Fist and those who practiced the Steel Fist viewed taijutsu in completely different ways.
Gentle Fist practitioners—or, more precisely, members of the Hyuga Clan—placed greater emphasis on the precision of their techniques and restraint in their mindset because of the Byakugan.
Take the Gentle Fist's "Eight Trigrams Palms" as an example. Whether it was the "Sixty-Four Palms" or the "One Hundred Twenty-Eight Palms," both used the eight trigrams positions as their basis and corresponded to the target's acupuncture points.