Eight Trigrams Palm: Rotation

"Hyuga Ritsu, surrender now, and you'll be the only one punished. No one else will be implicated. But if you keep resisting, your parents, your friends and relatives—everyone will be punished!"

A tall, black-haired man with hair down to his waist and a resolute face stood at the front, staring coldly at Hyuga Ritsu as he issued his final warning.

His name was Hyuga Masamune.

Main Family Elder.

Jonin.

He was a true force to be reckoned with among the Main House. Though he was not yet thirty, he already ranked just below the Clan Head, holding first place among the Main House's six elders.

"Kid, don't think you're some big shot just because people have praised you as a genius. Our Hyuga Clan has endured for a thousand years, and geniuses are as plentiful as the stars. There are even more brats like you who don't know their place and think they can change the world. But in all these thousand years, has anyone ever managed to shake the system of the Main House and Branch House?"

Elder Hyuga Atsushi, who was over seventy but still in reasonably good health, also lectured Hyuga Ritsu from on high, adopting the air of an elder.

"Hyuga Takuma, Hyuga Akiba, and Hyuga Arima, right? What are you three doing, joining in this nonsense? Hurry up and get lost! Are you planning to stand beside this criminal, Hyuga Ritsu, and be punished along with him?"

Another elder, also over seventy, Hyuga Mizuki, fixed his gaze on the three standing behind Hyuga Ritsu, trying to scare them off and leave Ritsu all alone.

But,

He had underestimated Takuma, Akiba, and Arima's courage and backbone.

The three stood firm behind Hyuga Ritsu. They simply figured that Elder Hyuga Mizuki was old, and it was understandable if his sphincter had loosened and he couldn't control the waste gases in his body.

"Elder Shunsuke, would you like to say something too?"

Hyuga Ritsu looked at Hyuga Shunsuke, who had rallied the Main House members, with a cheerful smile.

"You—you, Hyuga Ritsu, you damn brat! If you know what's good for you, get down on your knees and apologize right now. At least then we can make your end quick."

Hyuga Shunsuke roared.

His voice was loud, but his threats still sounded weak and limp, lacking any real force. They simply weren't intimidating.

"Everyone from the Main House, have you finished speaking? If so, it's my turn."

Hyuga Ritsu's eyes swept across the people before him one by one. The polite smile vanished from his face, replaced by a stern expression as cold as an iceberg. He raised his voice:

"Your good days of sucking us dry and lording it over the Branch House end today. I'll challenge and defeat you all here, then run for Clan Head. If I become Clan Head, the Hyuga Clan will never again have a distinction between the Main House and the Branch House. Every clan member will be family. Just like the Uchiha Clan: the capable rise, the weak fall; the strong protect the weak, and the weak respect the strong!"

His voice rang clear and carried across the entire area.

His words reached the ears of every Branch House member watching. Some were unmoved, some were stirred, some were skeptical, and some were furious... The last group, in particular, was not small.

They were the Main House's die-hard loyalists.

It was true that the Hyuga Clan had endured for a thousand years. How much credit the Main House–Branch House system deserved was debatable, but the Main House touted its importance above all else, and many Branch House members truly believed it.

"Stubborn fool!"

Hyuga Masamune snorted and struck without hesitation, raising a hand to attack Hyuga Ritsu.

Eight Trigrams Vacuum Palm!

This was a high-level technique of the Hyuga Clan's Gentle Fist, and its only long-range attack. It unleashed a pressure blast of Chakra mixed with compressed air, powerful enough to act like a cannonball and shatter even stone.

The result of a direct hit on a person was easy to imagine.

And,

He wasn't the only one to attack.

Beside him,

Hyuga Shunsuke and another Main House Jonin named Hyuga Taiga attacked in unison. They both used Eight Trigrams Vacuum Palm—their coordination made it obvious they had planned this in advance.

But—

"You're all Hyuga. The flow of Chakra inside your bodies already told me what you were going to do!"

Hyuga Ritsu assumed a stance.

Using his right leg as a pivot, he spread his left leg and released Chakra from the meridian points throughout his body. It drove him into a rapid spin like a spinning top, and the swiftly rotating Chakra formed a hemispherical barrier around him.

The Eight Trigrams Vacuum Palms struck the Chakra barrier and dissipated on contact, failing to stir even the slightest ripple.

"Rotation?"

"It's actually Rotation?"

"Isn't that the secret technique known as the 'strongest defense,' mastered only by the Main House? How can Hyuga Ritsu use it?"

The Branch House members were utterly shocked and couldn't help whispering among themselves.

The Main House members, too, could no longer keep their composure.

"How does that brat know Rotation?"

"Damn it, who taught him?"

"How could anyone teach a Branch House member this secret technique? That brat must have figured it out himself... No, he must have stolen it! He stole our Main House's secret technique!"

Hyuga Shunsuke ground his teeth in fury.

Eight Trigrams Palm: Rotation.

The ultimate defensive secret technique of their Hyuga Clan's Gentle Fist. It had been passed down through the generations only within the Main House, and it was extremely difficult to master. Hyuga Shunsuke himself had once studied and trained in it for a whole year, only to fail in the end.

Now,

Seeing a Branch House brat like Hyuga Ritsu master Rotation and even use it, the demon called jealousy was all but devouring his heart.

"Stolen?"

The hemispherical Chakra barrier vanished.

Hyuga Ritsu stood firmly on the ground, which had been shaved down by a full ten centimeters. He looked at the Main House members. "I understand that with your brains already rotting away, you can't grasp what a genius is. So there's no point in saying more. If you have any other tricks, hurry up and use them!"

As he spoke, he extended his left hand and beckoned challengingly.

"Shunsuke, Taiga, attack together."

Hyuga Masamune said gravely.

Chakra like azure flames flared around his hands, forming two lifelike lion heads in an instant. Then he pushed off the ground and shot toward Hyuga Ritsu, swinging his iron palms, wrapped in azure lion heads, toward Ritsu's chest.

This was—

Gentle Step Twin Lion Fist.

One of the advanced Gentle Fist techniques, like Rotation, it was a secret technique passed down only within the Main House. Unlike ordinary Gentle Fist, Gentle Step Twin Lion Fist incorporated the application of Chakra shape transformation, expanding its range and increasing its power.

Even a glancing blow from the lion-shaped Chakra would hit with the destructive force of a full-strength punch.

However,

"That doesn't seem very difficult!"

Hyuga Ritsu said.

Azure lion heads also wrapped around his hands.