The Future of Core Condensation and the Caged Bird

Hyuga Ao was completing her nightly routine.

Her routine was divided into two parts. One was practicing a set of modified Gentle Fist techniques, while the other was attempting to break through the Caged Bird.

Hyuga Ao had been in this world for a year. At first, she had been lost and helpless in the unfamiliar environment and among unfamiliar people. She had even experienced the entire process of having the Caged Bird implanted.

In her confusion, she used the Golden Finger called Core Condensation Martial Artist that she had obtained through a lottery. In the blink of an eye, she became a five-year-old Core Condensation Martial Artist.

Becoming a Core Condensation Martial Artist brought her enormous changes.

A five-year-old child's body was naturally incapable of supporting Core Condensation, but the Golden Finger would not let anything go wrong.

Thus, under the infusion of some mysterious power, Hyuga Ao completed Core Condensation and received additional strengthening.

She felt that something deep within her body had been unlocked. Looking inward, Hyuga Ao discovered that the resilience and hardness of her bones had both improved greatly.

At the same time, she felt that a power deep within her bones had yet to be awakened. Somehow, she knew that it was the power of Shikotsumyaku.

But she could not mobilize it at all. It felt as if a membrane stood between them. It was as though she already possessed the Shikotsumyaku bloodline limit but had not awakened it.

After carefully experiencing it, Hyuga Ao felt that she could awaken it through Tiger Leopard Thunder Sound and Marrow Cleansing. That would require patient, long-term effort.

At the same time, because of Core Condensation, Hyuga Ao's personality and thought patterns had also become very different from those in her previous life.

People often said that martial arts could change a person's character, and Hyuga Ao was a perfect example. After Core Condensation, many things that had been buried in her heart were released.

Core Condensation had greatly enhanced Hyuga Ao. She discovered that she was practically a Fourth Tier: Microscopic practitioner without any control over her genetic abilities.

The Gentle Fist released chakra through the acupoints. After Core Condensation, Hyuga Ao had shattered the void and seen the divine, allowing her to directly control the opening and closing of her acupoints.

The Main Family's Gentle Fist Secret Techniques held no secrets for her. She only needed to temper her acupoints' tolerance through long practice before she could use all kinds of Gentle Fist techniques.

Hyuga Ao's chakra control had also improved tremendously. Saying she could control it as easily as moving her own arm would not be an exaggeration.

A Core Condensation Martial Artist possessed more than just Core Condensation cultivation. It also included various forms of National Art knowledge. Drawing on this martial foundation, Hyuga Ao had directly absorbed and thoroughly mastered the Gentle Fist.

In other words, Hyuga Ao only needed to wait for her body to mature. Without doing anything else, she would possess the strength of an Elite Jonin once her body reached adulthood.

But Core Condensation included more than that. Ninjas were all high-offense, low-defense fighters. No matter how powerful a ninja was, their internal organs remained fragile.

Hyuga Ao could produce a burst of Tiger Leopard Thunder Sound through certain vibrations of her muscles and bones. While cleansing her marrow and training her internal organs, she could also improve her physical constitution over time.

The modified Gentle Fist that Hyuga Ao practiced was based on the Gentle Fist, with Tiger Leopard Thunder Sound mixed into it. Its main purpose was to conceal the fact that she had learned martial arts from another system, while also continuing to familiarize herself with the Gentle Fist.

This required some explanation. The Gentle Fist was not actually one traditional martial art set, but a system.

The ninja world possessed countless secret techniques and ninjutsu. The reason the Hyuga had stood firm for a thousand years was precisely their pair of Byakugan and their Gentle Fist, tempered through countless trials.

Thus, the Hyuga did not use ninjutsu very often. It was because they usually had no time to practice it. The Gentle Fist alone was enough to occupy an ordinary person for their entire life.

Hyuga ninjas usually practiced only one or two ninjutsu for emergencies before focusing on the Gentle Fist.

But that was where Core Condensation's help for Hyuga Ao ended. For her, Core Condensation mainly provided internal improvement. Its enhancement of her external combat power was actually not that great.

After all, National Art martial artists had an extremely short attack range. The characteristics of Hyuga ninjas were also too obvious, and ordinary people would never engage them in close combat.

After completing a set of Gentle Fist, Hyuga Ao did not have a bead of sweat on her body. She slowly exhaled, then suddenly swung her palm at a wooden board hanging from a tree one meter away.

Air currents surged. The wooden board was suddenly blasted away by immense force. Hyuga Ao picked it up and examined it closely. There was a distinct palm print on the front, while the back had already turned to powder.

"Success!"

Hyuga Ao's face lit up with delight. Since the Hyuga's long-range attacks were far too monotonous, she had combined Eight Trigrams Vacuum Palm with Strike an Inch in Midair from the National Art to create Eight Trigrams Vacuum Palm Modified.

Using part of her chakra as a carrier to wrap around hidden force, she could inflict damage with both chakra and hidden force. It had a wider range of uses than Eight Trigrams Vacuum Palm.

"Phew..." Hyuga Ao calmed her violent heartbeat. Forcing out hidden force was still somewhat difficult for her. The main issue was that her body was too weak and still needed time to grow.

She looked at the wooden board with regret. This technique still had a great deal of room for improvement, but she could only stop there for now. She had many more plans for her time in the future.

That was because the Hyuga's path to Kage Level lay elsewhere.

In a world centered around chakra, pure National Art was destined to have little room to shine.

Hyuga Ao adjusted her condition again and prepared to do the most difficult thing she had to do every day.

When she had first reincarnated as a member of the Hyuga branch family, Hyuga Ao had been utterly desperate. There had never been a record in Naruto of the Caged Bird being undone.

Even those revived through Impure World Reincarnation still had a Cursed Seal on their foreheads.

Fortunately, the characteristic stubbornness of people from Huaxia came into play. A living person could not be stifled to death by a single bladderful of urine. Thus, she began actively searching for a way to investigate the Caged Bird.

Later, while experimenting with her Byakugan, she discovered that it had also been strengthened. She could see farther and more clearly.

Then, during an accidental attempt, she discovered that she could compress the Byakugan's field of vision. The compressed area could be seen in much finer detail and with greater clarity, rivaling a microscope.

After a year of effort, a few days ago, she had finally managed to compress the Byakugan's field of vision within her mind. Only then had she clearly seen the Caged Bird.

In Hyuga Ao's Byakugan vision, the Caged Bird appeared as interlocking chains rooted in the Byakugan and wrapped around the brain, like countless tightening bands around her head.

Hyuga Ao felt despair rising within her. Had the ancestors of the Hyuga truly been so heartless? Had they really left their descendants no way out at all?

Steadying herself, Hyuga Ao calmed down and continued compressing the Byakugan's field of vision. At last, she discovered a way to survive.

The chains of the Caged Bird were rooted in the Byakugan. They crossed and wound around one another, forming a birdcage.

The knots where the chains crossed were the switches that opened the Caged Bird.

There were nine knots in total. As long as she untied all nine, the Caged Bird would stop suppressing her brain, and the danger to her life would be eliminated.

As for how to remove the chains, she could only take things one step at a time.

Hyuga Ao immediately began trying to unlock it, but she was soon struck by another vicious blow from her predecessors.

The chains wrapped around her brain perfectly, as though they had grown there naturally.

Hyuga Ao understood. This was because no member of the Hyuga branch family had ever tried to disturb the Cursed Seal. The seal was implanted in childhood, and generation after generation had passed, causing their brains to adapt to having a Cursed Seal wrapped around their heads.

As a result, the brains of the branch family members had changed, leaving room for the Cursed Seal.

"Ugh..." Hyuga Ao rubbed her forehead and sighed.

But there was no other choice. She still had to find a way to remove the Caged Bird.

Thus, she began trying to condense her Spiritual Power into tentacles and pull at the knots in the chains.

Hyuga Ao formed two Spiritual Power tentacles, grasped both ends of a bow-shaped chain, and gently pulled.

But as she tugged at the chain, she also pulled on the chains wrapped around her head. A wave of agonizing pain struck her. The Spiritual Power tentacles she had maintained and the compressed Byakugan field of vision instantly vanished, interrupted by the pain.

"Hiss... I have to maintain the compressed Byakugan field of vision, condense Spiritual Power tentacles, and endure the agony at the same time? Why does this feel like some kind of training?"

Hyuga Ao found it extremely strange. After waiting for her headache to ease, she immediately compressed the Byakugan field of vision and began examining the other knots.

"As expected, the knots farther in are increasingly complex. They also look tighter, requiring greater force and higher-quality Spiritual Power to undo. Maintaining a compressed Byakugan for detailed observation over a long period is also extremely difficult."

Hyuga Ao thought of the Hyuga Clan's missing Kage Level.

"Could the Caged Bird originally have been intended to help break through to Kage Level? Weight training?"

Hyuga Ao sighed inwardly. No wonder the Hyuga Clan currently had no Kage Level fighters. Something major must have happened to the clan in ancient times.

It had been forced to place the Caged Bird on most of its members.

"Tenseigan?"

Hyuga Ao shook her head, cleared her thoughts, and focused on the first lock.

After considering that the Caged Bird might have been created as a form of training, Hyuga Ao found a possible method.

She carefully began experimenting. After nearly fainting from the pain several times, she finally found the optimal pulling force she could endure within her limit of tolerable pain.

"Drip, drip." Cold sweat fell from Hyuga Ao's forehead, and the veins around her eyes bulged.

Finally, after pulling for a long time, she undid the first knot.

As the first lock opened, a wave of coolness and relief spread through Hyuga Ao's mind. Her Spiritual Power and Dojutsu Power instantly became much more active.

"Phew." After undoing the first lock, the pressure in Hyuga Ao's heart eased as well. She lay in the bathtub with her eyes closed, organizing the information.

"Although unlocking today's lock was relatively easy for me, I actually benefited from Core Condensation."

"Because a five-year-old child could not directly undergo Core Condensation, I received an infusion of energy. My bloodline and Byakugan were purified, while my mind and body were strengthened considerably. My will also became firmer after Core Condensation. Otherwise, I could never have persisted for so long."

"Moreover, I found this method of breaking the seal by accident. I only wanted to see what this thing actually was, so I chose to compress the Byakugan's field of vision. Other people might think of using chakra or Sealing Jutsu to solve it, which would be even more difficult."

"And compressing the Byakugan's field of vision is not easy either. My bloodline had already been purified, and my Byakugan had become purer. Otherwise, this alone would have stopped many people. The Hyuga branch family had not been controlled without reason for all those years."

Hyuga Ao stood up, wiped the water from her body, and looked at the "plain-looking" little girl in the mirror.

"Tsk, hardly any meat on me. Terrible!"

Hyuga Ao did not have any particularly strong feelings about transforming into a girl. She was simply what she had always been.

At most, now that she was a girl, she had an added awareness of her appearance. She hoped to become pretty. As long as she was happy, that was enough.

The greatest impact of transforming into a girl might be on what she would do in the future. If she were a man, she might be able to find a wife in Konoha, leave behind a bond, become a Hokage, and do something for Konoha or the world.

But now that she was a girl, she only wanted to focus on transcending herself and see whether she could return to her former world to visit her parents and younger sister.

For now, she only needed to take care of herself.

As for choosing a partner, Hyuga Ao actually had no particular thoughts. It was nearly impossible for physiological impulses to affect her psychology. What remained were only personal aesthetics and preferences.

Looking across the entire ninja world, there were no female ninjas whom Hyuga Ao particularly liked. At most, she had coveted their bodies.

But Hyuga Ao could no longer indulge in such thoughts. Coveting herself was enough.

Besides, the more outstanding female ninjas in the ninja world all had their own bonds. They were not suitable companions for the road ahead, accompanying her toward a more distant future.

Among the men, her personal favorite was Minato. But after spending a year with him, Hyuga Ao discovered that Minato was truly a wonderful person.

However, what Hyuga Ao had previously liked was clearly the handsome aura of the Fourth Generation Hokage. After truly spending time with him, she instead began treating him like a brother.

At this point, Hyuga Ao's future path was almost decided.

Hyuga Ao silently swore to her reflection in the mirror:

"I will become stronger! Stronger than everyone else! Strong enough that even this world cannot imprison me! Then, I will go home!"