There were disagreements within the Main House over what form the Hyuga Clan's future should take?
Hearing this, Hyuga Yu frowned slightly. After pondering it for a moment, he made a note of the information.
Then he looked at Hizashi Hyuga and suddenly asked:
"Why are you helping me?"
Hyuga Yu had suspected that Hizashi Hyuga would help him in secret, but that judgment had been based on Hizashi Hyuga's identity and information about the future.
In truth, Hyuga Yu did not know Hizashi Hyuga as a person.
In the original story, this man had only appeared in other people's memories, and memories were often the most subjective.
What kind of person was Hizashi Hyuga—
A younger brother who respected and loved his elder brother?
A sacrifice with a view of the greater picture?
Or simply a quiet old father who loved his son, Neji?
Therefore, Hizashi Hyuga's answer would determine just how far Hyuga Yu could cooperate with him.
At this moment,
Hizashi Hyuga was clearly taken aback by the question. He had not expected Hyuga Yu to be so direct.
However, he did not think for long before speaking. "Do you think I'm helping you because of my identity and my past?"
Hyuga Yu was silent for a while before he said, "You are different from Caged Birds like us, who have been imprisoned and protected since birth."
"You are the one most qualified to hate."
"You're right." Hizashi Hyuga nodded calmly.
No expression could be seen on his face. Or rather, what he showed now was an utterly numb "expressionlessness."
He spoke:
"In the past, I deeply hated the Main House. I hated the Main House's harsh system, and I hated my elder brother, Hyuga Hiashi, who showed no mercy."
"On the day I lost the selection, I even had the thought of killing this absurd clan and massacring every last one of them."
"You may find it hard to understand, but at the time, I did not think such thoughts were extreme or terrifying. Just as a hungry person needs to eat and a thirsty person needs to drink, after suffering unfair treatment, one wants revenge!"
"Even now, I still feel that if I personally slaughtered every member of this clan's Main House, I would bear no psychological burden whatsoever."
"But after leaving the lofty Main House compound, coming into contact with more and more Branch House clansmen, and seeing the broader and more dangerous Shinobi World..."
"I gradually realized..."
"For a Branch House member with even a little talent like me, the Caged Bird is the hardest prison to escape. But for ordinary clansmen, it is the safest fortress."
"I began to wonder—"
Hizashi Hyuga's brows were tightly furrowed, and a trace of confusion appeared in his eyes.
"Was the Main House and Branch House system medicine or poison?"
Hyuga Yu looked at him and asked, "Have you found the answer?"
"No."
Hizashi Hyuga shook his head regretfully. Looking at Hyuga Yu, he let out a sigh.
"No matter how much I say, it would be better for you to see it with your own eyes."
Then, he assumed the opening stance of the Gentle Fist.
The next instant,
"Whoosh!"
A brilliant blue chakra storm rose around Hizashi Hyuga. The chakra was so dense that it nearly condensed into an illusory humanoid armor over the surface of his body.
Hizashi Hyuga's explanation followed:
"Even if one trains the Gentle Fist to its limit, one can only unleash the seventh step of the Gentle Fist Style: Eight Trigrams 128 Palms. And even if one pushes the Hyuga Clan's unique chakra control to its utmost limit, one can only form an ordinary layer of chakra armor like this over the body."
"After reaching this level, I gradually discovered that the Hyuga Clan's strongest move was not the strongest Nintaijutsu recorded in the clan archives, Eight Trigrams Palms: Mountain Crusher, but—"
Hizashi Hyuga's gaze shifted. He reached toward the sky and swung his palm.
An enormous amount of chakra gathered and condensed in an instant, then erupted from the chakra points in his palm, converging into an air cannon compressed to the extreme!
"—BOOM!!!"
With one palm strike, an absurdly thick, invisible air cannon blasted forth, shooting roughly six hundred meters into the sky.
Then, it slowly dissipated.
The tremendous commotion drew several prying gazes, but once they saw that Hizashi Hyuga had caused it, those gazes quickly moved away.
At this moment, Hizashi Hyuga gave Hyuga Yu a helpless smile and said:
"The Hyuga Clan's strongest move is actually the most ordinary Eight Trigrams Vacuum Palm."
"The power of the Eight Trigrams Vacuum Palm increases with the number of chakra points one can precisely control and release chakra from simultaneously. When all the chakra released from all 361 chakra points throughout the body is condensed into a single strike, its pure physical destructive power can even surpass Eight Trigrams Palms: Mountain Crusher."
However,
There was no pride in Hizashi Hyuga's voice over having developed this technique. Instead, it carried a deep sense of worry.
"And this... is actually the Hyuga Clan's strongest move."
By then, Hyuga Yu had activated his Byakugan and was evaluating the power of the technique.
Hizashi Hyuga's attributes were roughly equal to Hyuga Hiashi's. In other words, this strike had been unleashed with the stats of Spirit 8, Speed 8, Strength 7, Seal 10, Ninjutsu 7, and Body 10.
Every bit of it was real, without the slightest exaggeration.
Based on the scale of the disturbed air currents alone, the final force was already impossible to calculate. Combined with the Hyuga Clan chakra's ability to penetrate chakra,
This palm strike could at least directly break through the defense of a second-stage skeletal Susanoo. If followed by a second palm strike, it might really be able to smack the Gundam pilot straight out of the skeletal Susanoo.
And then, there would be no more after that.
Within Hyuga Yu's Byakugan vision, Hizashi Hyuga's chakra instantly bottomed out.
In other words, within a given period of time, even a fully realized Hyuga like Hizashi Hyuga could only unleash one such attack.
Hyuga Yu suddenly understood what Hizashi Hyuga had been worried about.
And at this moment,
Hizashi Hyuga let out a long breath. With a trace of heaviness in his voice, he warned Hyuga Yu:
"The Hyuga Clan's abilities appear to cover every aspect."
"For defense, there is Rotation. For close combat, there are Eight Trigrams Palms. At mid-range, there are Eight Trigrams Vacuum Palm and Eight Trigrams Palms: Mountain Crusher. At long range, the Byakugan can avoid danger. Or, like you, one can find another path and attack with a bow."
"But no matter which ability it is, none of them are extreme enough, absolute enough!"
"And among the strongest people in the Shinobi World,"
"Not being absolute enough is a fatal weakness!"
Hyuga Yu nodded in agreement.
But he knew that this was absolutely not the limit of the Eight Trigrams Vacuum Palm. Hizashi Hyuga's strike already possessed the rudiments of the Eighty Gods Vacuum Attack, yet it was still far from its more extreme offensive power.
There had to be some way to increase the power of the Eight Trigrams Vacuum Palm.
And that method of improvement—
Hyuga Yu could not help but turn his gaze toward the layer of chakra armor covering Hizashi Hyuga's body.
Of course,
This was not a power Hyuga Yu could master at present.
The flaws in Hizashi Hyuga's explored and improved Eight Trigrams Vacuum Palm: Modified were obvious.
Its power was immense, already nearing the threshold of ordinary ninja techniques, but its consumption was equally terrifying!
Although he already had some ideas, before solving the most fundamental chakra issue, Hyuga Yu still did not intend to research the Hyuga Clan's secret techniques.
Hizashi Hyuga steadied his slightly hurried breathing, then looked seriously at Hyuga Yu.
"You asked why I'm helping you?"
"Then I'll tell you now—"
"It isn't because of some boring reason like the Main House and Branch House system, but because—"
Hizashi Hyuga swept his Byakugan over Hyuga Yu's utterly mangled chakra pathways, which Hyuga Yu had modified himself, as well as the unique Blue Chakra throughout his body.
"Hyuga Yu!"
"Within you, I see hope for reaching the limit and breaking this clan's ceiling!"
"In the years since I was demoted to the Branch House, compared to pondering the meaning behind the Main House and Branch House system, what I have been able to see more clearly is—"
"The Hyuga Clan's problem is not the contradiction and conflict between the Main House and Branch House, much less their mutual attacks as they chase after some meaningless status and power!"
"It is—"
"This clan has gone far, far, far too long!"
"Without producing a truly powerful expert!"
Before you continue