Embracing the Dan, Caged Bird, The Future

Hyuga Ao was finishing her nightly routine.

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

It had been a year since Hyuga Ao transmigrated. At first, she was lost and panicked—unfamiliar surroundings, unfamiliar people, and she had even gone through the full Caged Bird implantation process.

In her confusion, she used a golden finger she had obtained from a lottery, called Core Condensation Martial Artist, and transformed into a five-year-old Core Condensation Martial Artist.

Becoming a Core Condensation Martial Artist was a massive change for her.

A five-year-old's body was fundamentally incapable of supporting Core Condensation, but the golden finger wouldn't let her fail.

So, under the infusion of some great force, Hyuga Ao completed Core Condensation and received additional reinforcement.

She felt something deep within her body awaken. Looking inward, she found that the toughness and hardness of her bones had greatly improved.

At the same time, she sensed a dormant power within her bones, yet to be unleashed. Instinctively, she knew it was the power of Shikotsumyaku.

But she couldn't mobilize it at all—it felt like there was a membrane in the way, as if she already possessed the Shikotsumyaku bloodline limit but hadn't awakened it.

After careful contemplation, Hyuga Ao realized she could stimulate it through Thunder Sound Marrow Cleansing, but that would only come with patient, gradual effort.

Also, because of Core Condensation, Hyuga Ao's personality and thought patterns had changed significantly from her previous life.

They say martial arts can reshape a person's nature, and Hyuga Ao was a prime example. After Core Condensation, many things buried deep in her heart were released.

Core Condensation brought Hyuga Ao a tremendous boost. She discovered she was essentially a Fourth Tier: Microscopic without the ability to control genes.

Gentle Fist released Chakra through acupoints, but after Core Condensation, Hyuga Ao could break through the void, see the divine, and directly control the opening and closing of her acupoints.

The secret techniques of the Hyuga Main Family's Gentle Fist held no mysteries for her. She only needed long practice to temper her acupoints' endurance before she could execute various Gentle Fist techniques.

Moreover, Hyuga Ao's Chakra control had greatly improved. Saying it was like an extension of her will was no exaggeration.

A Core Condensation Martial Artist wasn't just about the cultivation itself; it also included knowledge of various National Arts. With this martial foundation, Hyuga Ao directly absorbed and fully comprehended Gentle Fist.

In other words, Hyuga Ao only needed to wait for her body to grow. Doing nothing, she would reach Elite Jonin level by adulthood.

But Core Condensation didn't stop there. Ninjas were high-offense, low-defense types—no matter how powerful, their internal organs were fragile.

Hyuga Ao could use a specific vibration of her muscles and bones to emit a Tiger Leopard Thunder Sound. This would cleanse her marrow and organs while gradually improving her physical fitness over time.

The modified Gentle Fist she practiced was her own creation, blending Gentle Fist with Tiger Leopard Thunder Sound. Its main purpose was to conceal her training in another martial system while continuing to refine her Gentle Fist.

It should be noted that Gentle Fist wasn't a single traditional fist technique but a system.

The ninja world had countless secret techniques and ninjutsu, yet the Hyuga clan had stood for a thousand years, relying on a pair of Byakugan and their meticulously honed Gentle Fist.

That was why Hyuga rarely used ninjutsu—they had no time to practice it. Gentle Fist alone was enough to occupy a lifetime.

Typically, Hyuga ninjas only learned one or two ninjutsu for emergencies and focused entirely on Gentle Fist.

But Core Condensation's help for Hyuga Ao ended there. It was more of an internal enhancement; the boost to her external combat power wasn't that significant.

After all, a National Art martial artist's attack range was far too short. Hyuga ninjas were too distinctive—no one would willingly fight them at close range.

Hyuga Ao finished her set of Gentle Fist without a trace of sweat. She slowly exhaled, then suddenly swung her palm at a wooden board hanging on a tree a meter away.

Air surged, and the board was blasted away by a tremendous force. Hyuga Ao picked it up and examined it closely. On the front was a clear palm print, while the back had turned to powder.

"Success!"

Hyuga Ao's face lit up with joy. Since the Hyuga clan's long-range attacks were too monotonous, she had created this move—Eight Trigrams Vacuum Palm Modified—by combining Eight Trigrams Vacuum Palm with the National Art Strike an Inch in Midair.

Using a portion of Chakra as a carrier to wrap around Internal Force, she could inflict mixed damage from both Chakra and Internal Force, making it more versatile than Eight Trigrams Vacuum Palm.

"Huff..." Hyuga Ao steadied her pounding heart. Forcing out Internal Force was still a strain on her—her body was too weak and needed to grow.

She looked at the board with regret. This move still had plenty of room for improvement, but she had to stop here. Her future time was already fully scheduled.

Because the Kage-level path for Hyuga ninjas was a different road.

In a world dominated by Chakra, relying solely on National Arts was destined to be limited.

Hyuga Ao adjusted her state again, preparing for the hardest yet unavoidable task of her day.

When she first transmigrated into the Hyuga Branch Family, Hyuga Ao had felt utter despair, because the Caged Bird had never been undone in the history of Naruto.

Even people resurrected by Impure World Reincarnation still had the Cursed Seal on their foreheads.

Fortunately, the typical Chinese trait of never giving up kicked in. A living person couldn't be choked to death by a single piss, so she actively began researching the Caged Bird.

Later, while testing her Byakugan, she found that her Byakugan had also been strengthened—she could see farther and clearer.

Then, in a chance attempt, she discovered she could compress her Byakugan's field of vision. The compressed area became even more detailed and clear, comparable to a microscope.

After a year of effort, just a few days ago, she finally managed to compress her Byakugan's vision inside her own brain. That was when she finally saw the Caged Bird clearly.

In Hyuga Ao's Byakugan vision, the Caged Bird appeared as a crisscrossing network of chains, rooted in the Byakugan, wrapped around her brain like multiple tightening headbands.

Despair welled up in Hyuga Ao. Were the Hyuga ancestors truly so merciless, leaving no path for their descendants?

Steeling herself, Hyuga Ao calmed down and continued compressing her Byakugan's vision. Finally, she found a way out.

The Caged Bird's chains were rooted in the Byakugan, interwoven into a cage.

At the intersections of the chains were knots—the switches to unlock the Caged Bird.

There were nine knots in total. If she could untie all nine, the Caged Bird would no longer oppress her brain, and the threat to her life would be lifted.

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

Hyuga Ao immediately began trying to unlock them, but she was soon hit by another blow from her predecessors.

Those chains were wrapped tightly around her brain, seamless, as if they had grown there naturally.

Hyuga Ao understood—this was because generations of Hyuga branch family members had never attempted to disturb the Cursed Seal. Implanted young, passed down through generations, it had caused the brain to adapt to having the seal wrapped around it.

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

"Sigh..." Hyuga Ao pressed a hand to her forehead and sighed.

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

So she began trying to condense her Spiritual Power into tentacles to pull at the knots of the chains.

The two Spiritual Power tentacles Hyuga Ao formed grabbed both ends of the bow-shaped chain knot and gave a gentle tug.

But pulling the chain also yanked at the chains wrapped around her head. A sharp pain shot through her, and the Spiritual Power tentacles she maintained, along with the Byakugan's field of vision, instantly dissipated, broken by the agony.

"Tch... I have to simultaneously compress the Byakugan's vision, maintain the Spiritual Power tentacles, and endure the pain? This feels like it's meant to train someone."

Hyuga Ao found it very strange. After waiting for the headache to ease, she immediately compressed her Byakugan's vision and began observing the other knots.

"Sure enough, the knots further in are more complex and look tighter. They require more force and higher-quality Spiritual Power to undo. And maintaining a compressed Byakugan for fine observation over a long time is also extremely difficult."

Hyuga Ao thought of the Kage-level power the Hyuga Clan lacked.

"Could this Caged Bird have originally been meant for breaking through to Kage-level? Like weighted training?"

Hyuga Ao sighed inwardly. No wonder the Hyuga Clan had no Kage-level now. It seemed a major upheaval must have occurred in the clan's ancient past.

So much so that most clan members had to be implanted with the Caged Bird.

"The Tenseigan... huh?"

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

With the idea that the Caged Bird might be a training tool, Hyuga Ao found a way to solve it.

She began carefully experimenting. After several near-fainting episodes from the pain, she finally found the optimal pulling force she could endure at the limit of her headache tolerance.

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

Finally, after a long period of pulling, she undid the first knot.

As the first lock came undone, a cool, refreshing sensation spread through Hyuga Ao's mind. Her Spiritual Power and Dojutsu Power felt instantly more active.

"Phew." After undoing the first lock, the pressure in Hyuga Ao's heart eased. She lay in the bathtub, closing her eyes to organize the information.

"Even though undoing this lock today was relatively easy for me, it's actually thanks to the energy condensation."

"Because a five-year-old child can't directly condense energy, I received an energy infusion. My bloodline and Byakugan were purified, and my spirit and body were strengthened. Plus, after condensing energy, my will became firmer. Otherwise, I wouldn't have been able to endure that long."

"And this method of unsealing was a fluke. I just wanted to see what this thing really was, so I chose the path of compressing the Byakugan's vision. Others might think of using Chakra or Sealing Jutsu to solve it, which would be much harder."

"Also, compressing the Byakugan's vision isn't easy. My bloodline was purified before, making my Byakugan purer. Otherwise, this step alone would stump many people. The Hyuga branch family being controlled for so many years isn't undeserved."

Hyuga Ao stood up, wiping the moisture from her body, and looked at the 'unremarkable' little girl in the mirror.

"Tsk, not much meat on these bones. Thumbs down."

Hyuga Ao didn't have any particular thoughts about becoming a girl. She was what she was, same as before.

At most, being a girl added a bit of self-scrutiny—she hoped to look pretty, as long as she was happy.

The biggest impact of the transformation for Hyuga Ao was probably what she would do from now on. If she were a man, she might find a wife in Konoha, leave behind some bonds, become the Hokage, and do something for Konoha or the world.

But now that she was a woman, she just wanted to focus on transcending herself, to see if she could return to her previous world to visit her parents and little sister.

For now, she just had to take care of herself.

As for romance, Hyuga Ao had no particular thoughts. For her, the possibility of physiology influencing psychology was almost nonexistent. That left only personal aesthetics and preferences.

Looking across the ninja world, past and future, there weren't many female ninjas Hyuga Ao particularly liked. At most, she appreciated their looks.

But obviously, she couldn't appreciate them now. She could only appreciate herself.

And the more outstanding female ninjas in the ninja world all had their own bonds, making them unsuitable as companions on her path to a distant future.

Among the men, her personal favorite was Minato. But after a year of getting along, Hyuga Ao found that Minato was truly a good person.

However, what Hyuga Ao had liked before was clearly the handsomeness of the Fourth Generation Hokage. After actually getting to know him, she treated him more like a brother.

With that, Hyuga Ao's future path was almost decided.

Hyuga Ao silently swore to herself in the mirror:

"I will become strong! Stronger than everyone! So strong that this world can't hold me! And then... go home!"

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