Shadow of Hyuga

Recently, a major event had stirred the stagnant, dead-water calm of the Hyuga clan.

Hyuga Ao of the Branch Family was taken as a personal disciple by Hyuga Hayato, and at the same time, Hyuga Hiashi's engagement was confirmed.

This sent countless Branch Family members with daughters of marriageable age beating their chests and stamping their feet in frustration, frantically trying to dig up just who this Hyuga Ao was.

At that very moment, Hyuga Ao was practicing a set of Eight Trigrams Sixty-Four Palms.

"One palm, two palms, four palms, eight palms... Eight Trigrams Sixty-Four Palms!"

The wooden dummy before Hyuga Ao was pinned in place by her final strike.

The elders gathered around all crowded in, using their Byakugan and their hands to verify the marks left on the dummy.

The dummy was passed from elder to elder.

A long moment passed.

The Fourth Elder of the Main Family, who handled Branch Family affairs, sighed in admiration:

"Accurate placement, precise force. Every single one of the sixty-four palms lands perfectly, not a single wasted movement."

"It's as if the Eight Trigrams Palms were always meant to be struck this way. Perfect, simply perfect!"

The Second Elder of the Main Family, in charge of teaching techniques, also praised:

"Not only that, but throughout these sixty-four palms, the shifts in stance, the alternation between fingers and palms, all reveal a faint sense of control. This is exactly what our Hyuga's Kage-level requires. At such a young age, her potential is boundless!"

With that, the elders gathered again to discuss. Finally, the Head Elder stepped forward and said to Hyuga Hayato:

"Clan Head, this time your insight is truly sharp. We are all convinced. Our Hyuga indeed needs a Kage to deter the petty scoundrels. The Council of Elders approves of this matter."

Then he turned to Hyuga Ao:

"Hyuga Ao of the Branch Family, we promise you this: if you truly become the Kage-level our Hyuga clan has lacked for so many years, then though you are of the Branch Family, you will be treated as Main Family."

After the elders departed.

Hyuga Ao still felt a surreal sense of unreality.

She had originally thought she was just a tool to build a connection with Kushina—someone who could get some resources, but not much.

Becoming the clan head's disciple was probably just a title, with the real goal being to marry her off to Hyuga Hiashi, so that as the future clan head's wife, she could leverage that relationship with Kushina to get close to the next Hokage.

And what Hyuga Ao mainly valued was the promise not to place the Caged Bird seal on her. While it couldn't be completely avoided, having that assurance would make things much easier.

But judging by today's display, was the Main Family serious?

And what was going on?

Were these Main Family elders really this easy to deal with?

Wasn't it said that the elders were there to divide power and check the clan head? Why wasn't anyone opposing this?

The reality was too far from her expectations. Hyuga Ao was genuinely shocked. She thought she'd be like Neji, but it turned out she was Hizashi.

Hyuga Hayato waved his hand, signaling Hyuga Ao to come over.

Once she approached, Hyuga Hayato spoke:

"Are you wondering why the Main Family places so much importance on this apprenticeship?"

Hyuga Ao nodded.

"That's because the Hyuga truly need a Kage-level right now. War is not far off—this is the consensus among all of Konoha's higher-ups."

Hyuga Hayato paused:

"And once this war starts, it will be brutal. Everyone has been resting and recuperating for so long that they're all restless, unwilling to stay as they are."

"After the war, everything will be rebuilt from the ruins. Only with a Kage-level can we pursue the seat of Hokage."

"Moreover, a single Kage-level can guarantee the clan's safety for at least fifty years. So what I said yesterday wasn't a lie. The Hyuga clan needs you, Ao'er!"

Hearing that last sentence, Hyuga Ao's mind suddenly cleared.

So that was it.

Everything today was meant to win Hyuga Ao's loyalty, to make her feel valued, because she truly had that talent.

So all along, these people had been feeding her the idea that the Caged Bird didn't matter, that they considered her one of the Main Family.

This reminded Hyuga Ao of an anime she'd seen in her past life, where Hyuga Neji, pinned by an Iwagakure ninja's Earth Release and mocked for being a Branch Family member, had said:

"At least, at this moment, I stand here by my own will!"

Coincidentally, right after he said that, Hyuga Hiashi rushed in to save Neji.

Hyuga Ao's conflict with the Main Family wasn't about anything else—it was the Caged Bird.

So unless the Caged Bird was removed, everything else was empty.

The elders valuing her, the clan head taking her as a disciple, the resources provided—all of it was to make her willingly fight and die for the Main Family.

So all of this was hollow. Once she understood that, Hyuga Ao decided to follow the words of a great man.

Swallow the sugarcoating, and spit the bullet back!

Though she had thought a lot, not much time had actually passed.

After deciding on her course of action, Hyuga Ao put on an expression of being deeply moved and impressed.

Her earlier brief daze was attributed by Hyuga Hayato to the shock of everything that had happened that day.

Satisfied with Hyuga Ao's expression, Hyuga Hayato nodded approvingly.

The first lesson after taking her as a disciple began—what it meant to be the Shadow of Hyuga.

First, it was necessary to explain what Kage-level truly meant, and here a concept from Mobile Suit Gundam could be borrowed.

In Gundam battles, aces were divided into melee aces and artillery aces.

The most representative artillery ace was Kira Yamato—with the Meteor System, a single full salvo could clear an entire battlefield of enemies.

The melee ace was Athrun Zala—a burst of 2887 was comparable to Emperor Kai opening the Eight Inner Gates. What a melee ace needed was powerful single-point breakthrough ability, along with the capacity to suppress other artillery aces and prevent them from wiping out allied grunts on a large scale.

In the ninja world, Kage-level equated to aces in mecha battles—either possessing powerful area-kill capabilities or formidable point-breakthrough abilities.

The former was like the Kazekages of generations past, the latter like Hatake Sakumo.

The Kage-level of the Hyuga clan belonged to the single-target Kage, or taijutsu Kage.

But taijutsu Kage had to be further subdivided, like the face of taijutsu Kage—Emperor Kai.

Might Guy was usually just an Elite Jonin, but after opening the Eight Inner Gates, his physical abilities were massively enhanced, allowing him to count as Kage-level.

And the more gates he opened, the stronger he became. After opening six or seven gates, even Kisame Hoshigaki, without using his trump cards, could do little against him.

If the Steel Fist Shadow represented powerful physical destructive ability.

Then the Gentle Fist Shadow leaned toward control, no longer focusing on the body, but contemplating the relationship between man and heaven and earth, the connections between things.

Simply put, it was a domain.

The standard for a Gentle Fist Shadow was a domain.

After countless collisions between the body and other chakra techniques, one's own chakra clashing with other chakra.

Through these collisions of chakra and flesh, one comprehended what a "field" was.

Then, one went on to sense nature, using one's superb mastery of fist techniques to understand and control one's surroundings.

This was reflected in the Eight Trigrams Sixty-Four Palms.

When executing the Eight Trigrams Sixty-Four Palms, the first four palms were for control, and the last sixty were the true test of skill.

Why were the last sixty palms a test of skill? Because they required speed, precision, and then natural flow—strike one palm, and you knew where the next would land.

That was why Hinata only had thirty-two palms at the start of the story—she hadn't achieved control over herself or mastery of the Gentle Fist.

Control over oneself meant knowing exactly where this palm would strike, how the feet would move, how the opponent would react, and where to strike after that reaction—all of it clear in the mind.

This was control over tangible things, while a domain required control over intangible things.

Through chakra, aura, Byakugan Dojutsu Power, Spiritual Power, and the omnipresent Natural Chakra, one dispersed them into the air, blending them into a field—this field was the domain.

These were things that could only be understood, not explained. The Hyuga clan's texts had been damaged for certain reasons, and the oral traditions had been lost due to Hyuga Tenin's departure.

That was why the Hyuga had fallen into such a dire situation.

They could only explore the realm of Kage through fragments of their predecessors' words.

So they needed a young genius who could quickly train the Gentle Fist to a profound level, and after mastering it, while still young, explore the path to Kage.

Thus, in their eyes, Hyuga Ao was a rare Hyuga genius, and moreover, a pioneer of the path.

Hyuga Ao returned to her new home carrying a full load of scrolls. She had already moved out of her original house and now lived in a large compound.

From now on, servants would arrange her food, clothing, shelter, and transportation. Hyuga Ao only needed to move forward.

After completing her daily training.

Hyuga Ao soaked luxuriously in a medicinal bath, enjoying a massage from a branch family servant. She finally understood why the Main Family clung so tightly to the branch family.

After enjoying privileges for so many years, who would want to let go?

Corrupt, too corrupt!

Hyuga Ao savored the servant's massage.

She had to admit, a taijutsu clan was different—the technique, the pressure.

Hyuga Ao felt all her fatigue melt away.

Amidst this feudal and corrupt indulgence, Hyuga Ao also sighed, sighing at the Main Family's audacity.

With the Caged Bird in hand, they had no fear of Hyuga Ao causing trouble.

And they didn't think Hyuga Ao had any reason to cause trouble. In their view, these conditions were enough to overwhelm a seven-year-old girl, even if she was a genius.

But they could never have imagined that Hyuga Ao had already lived two lives.

Based on this mindset, Hyuga Ao obtained almost all of the Main Family's Gentle Fist secret techniques, which greatly improved her.

She had previously been able to use techniques like Rotation based on fragments from her past life, but she could only use them—not particularly well.

Now, with the Main Family's detailed explanations, she learned how to use them well, how to strike quickly, and how to maximize power—saving Hyuga Ao a great deal of time.

With the Main Family's full supply of resources, Hyuga Ao's physical growth rate would see a noticeable increase.

However.

"Hmph, Main Family, just wait and see."

You're using me to seek the path of the shadows, and I'm equally using your resources.

As long as the fundamental conflict of the Caged Bird remains unresolved, Hyuga Ao and the Main Family will forever be at odds.