Eighty Gods Vacuum Attack

Konoha was peaceful in the evening.

Night draped itself over the buildings like a gray coat. The four faces on the Kage Rock were like emaciated giants, quietly watching over this land with its undercurrents of unrest.

Meanwhile, in the courtyard, Hyuga Yunchuan stood silently in the middle of the spacious yard, dressed in a white training uniform with his eyes tightly shut.

Around him, remnants of wooden stakes had been suspended in midair by mechanisms, their dense clusters of sharp ends all aimed at him.

A moment later, he gently released the string connected to the mechanism in his hand.

Whoosh! Whoosh!

In an instant, the crisp snap of the mechanisms closing and the shrill whistle of air being torn apart filled the courtyard. The razor-sharp wooden stake fragments formed a barrage like a torrential downpour.

But in the next moment, Hyuga Yunchuan moved with incredible speed.

His entire body became an afterimage as, accompanied by the sound of rushing wind, he charged directly at the incoming stakes.

Though the stakes were incredibly fast and left almost no blind spots, their trajectories and angles were crystal clear to his senses.

Bang bang bang!!

Unlike the simple exchange of techniques when he faced Hyuga Aoi, Hyuga Yunchuan's palms were wrapped in blue Chakra. His arms became afterimages as they shot out with violent force, carrying crushing wind pressure.

In the blink of an eye, the struck stakes exploded one after another from within, becoming billowing clouds of dust around him and rendering his figure hazy, like a ghost within the smoke.

If Might Guy had been here to see this scene, he would surely have been fired up with excitement.

Though Hyuga Yunchuan was clearly using Gentle Fist, it carried a rigid, tyrannical force that fused the power-generation techniques of Strong Fist and Gentle Fist.

Screech!

The final two thick wooden stakes, covered in savage spikes, shot toward Yunchuan from different angles on either side.

Their visibly terrifying speed represented immense kinetic force, enough to pierce straight through a body of flesh and blood.

As if sensing something, Hyuga Yunchuan remained where he was without moving his feet. Yet the corners of his mouth slowly curled up beneath his tightly shut eyes, and his palms suddenly clenched into fists with a hum.

"Air Strike!"

He threw his fists forward, unleashing his vicious intent without restraint. The dust around him was blasted away, while the Chakra gathered in his hands turned into invisible substance, leaving his body and smashing thunderously toward the stakes.

Bang! Bang!

Before the two stakes could reach Hyuga Yunchuan, they were blasted into an incomparably fine "mist" three meters away, as though the force had entered the wood and exploded from within.

This wood had been specially made for practicing Gentle Fist. Both its exterior and interior were exceptionally tough, capable of enduring Eight Trigrams One Hundred Twenty-Eight Palms without damage, yet Yunchuan had now blasted it apart from a distance.

If those two punches had struck not wooden stakes, but living people...

"Success."

Hyuga Yunchuan opened his eyes and looked at the panel before him. Smiling, he said, "I finally have a long-range, high-powered Nintaijutsu. I won't need to use Gentle Fist against Susanoo or Tailed Beasts anymore."

[Taijutsu: Gentle Fist - Thirty-Two Palms (C-rank), Eight Gates Released Formation - Gate of Life (Forbidden Jutsu), Gentle Fist - One Strike Body (B-rank), Air Strike (A-rank)]

By gathering a large amount of Chakra in one part of the body and releasing it all at once through the penetrating force of Gentle Fist and Strong Fist, this technique could turn an enemy into Blood Mist from the inside, no matter how tough their body had been tempered.

More importantly, like the Rasengan, this was a non-elemental technique that required no hand seals. It could be combined with Chakra nature transformation by adding Wind, Fire, Lightning, Earth, or Water Chakra. It was highly adaptable and practical, with an extremely high ceiling.

"An A-rank learning difficulty?" Hyuga Yunchuan looked thoughtful.

Perhaps in many people's eyes, "Chakra reserves" were like "mana" in a game—used whenever battle began.

But in truth, aside from users of Ninjutsu like the Yin Seal and Jinchuriki, Chakra could not be stored within the body. It constantly dissipated.

Every use of Chakra required it to be refined through mental energy and physical energy. If one's refinement speed could not keep pace with the rate of dissipation, that person lacked ninja talent. This was also one of the main factors determining the strength of most ordinary ninja.

Kakashi was always so frugal with his Chakra because half of every bit he refined had to be fed to the lordly Sharingan, making his already limited Chakra refinement speed even worse.

And in the original story, before Naruto gained the Nine-Tails' recognition and assistance, he had to prepare a Shadow Clone in advance whenever he used Sage Mode, allowing it to accumulate Chakra and Natural Energy. Jiraiya naturally relied on the two toads on his shoulders for assistance as well.

Once one's Chakra refinement speed exceeded its dissipation speed, the upper limit of Chakra the body could contain became another decisive factor. It determined the power and scale of the Ninjutsu a ninja could use.

For example, those revived through Impure World Reincarnation possessed effectively infinite Chakra. So why could no one else use massive-area Fire Style Ninjutsu like Uchiha Madara?

Fire Style: Majestic Destroyer Flame was merely a B-rank Fire Style Ninjutsu in terms of learning difficulty, but when Uchiha Madara used it, dozens of Kirigakure ninja from the Shinobi Allied Forces had to exhaust themselves casting Water Formation Wall together just to block it.

That was because Uchiha Madara's specially made body could contain more Chakra. Naturally, Ninjutsu fueled by greater Chakra consumption possessed greater power and scale.

That was why, toward the end, Sasuke, who possessed Sage Eyes, was clearly inferior to Naruto, who possessed a Sage Body and the Nine-Tails, in terms of endurance. During the battle at the Valley of the End, he had only been able to turn it into a battle of attrition after seizing the Chakra of the other eight Tailed Beasts.

Chakra refinement speed and the upper limit of Chakra one could contain.

When Ninjutsu proficiency was roughly equal, these were the main factors that determined a ninja's strength.

The former could perhaps be improved through later training, but the latter was an innate "talent."

What determined both was the "meridian system" within the body. Like blood vessels carrying flowing blood, meridians were channels spread throughout the body that allowed Chakra to reach every corner. Together with the 361 Chakra points, they were called the "meridian system."

If most people's meridians were babbling streams, then the meridians in Hyuga Yunchuan's body were like endlessly surging rivers. In this regard, he was even stronger than Naruto Uzumaki of the Uzumaki Clan.

The system had judged this technique to have A-rank learning difficulty, presumably because he had fully utilized this body's talents, including its extremely fast Chakra refinement speed, its upper limit for containing Chakra, and its powerful Chakra control ability...

"I wonder whether Kaguya Ōtsutsuki's 'Eighty Gods Vacuum Attack' works on the same principle. But with the gifts of her body, Eighty Gods Vacuum Attack was probably no more than a casual move for her—overwhelming strength making everything simple."

Hyuga Yunchuan pulled back his wandering thoughts and glanced over the messy courtyard.

After hesitating for a moment, he ultimately did not clean it up and turned to enter the house.

After accompanying Might Guy through intense training all morning, then exhausting his energy developing Nintaijutsu in the afternoon, he only wanted to go back and get some proper rest.

However, not long after he entered the house, a figure appeared outside the courtyard.

The newcomer looked at the wood chips and chunks scattered throughout the yard. Every surrounding stake had been shattered, while the carefully tended lawn was covered in scars and craters. Some remnants of the stakes were even stained with blood that had yet to dry, leaving him deeply alarmed.

What happened here?

The newcomer frowned and silently entered the courtyard. After standing before the door for several seconds, he still chose to step forward and open it.

But just as his hand settled on the doorknob—

Bang!

The door suddenly slammed outward from within. The force was so great that it erupted with a deafening crash, surging through the handle and into him.

It was as though it intended to smash the newcomer apart and scatter him over the lawn as fertilizer, yet also as though it intended to surge into his body.

"Hm?"

The newcomer froze for a moment. The hand gripping the doorknob instinctively pressed forward against the door, and he instantly exerted force, erupting with the power of Gentle Fist. Only then did he barely neutralize that surging force.

All the power dissolved like a clay ox sinking into the sea, as though it had been broken down by two opposing forces.

Hyuga Yunchuan inside the room stopped, seemingly realizing who the visitor was.

Click.

The door opened.

Upon seeing the face of the figure outside, Hyuga Yunchuan seemed to freeze as well.

"Lord Hizashi?"