From Gentle Fist to Jujutsu

In the blink of an eye, Dan had been back for two days.

He'd spent both days training at the Fitness Gym, going nowhere else and returning to his old routine.

As for Danzo sending people to assassinate him, Dan acted as if it had never happened. The reason was...

First, he'd already sold the evidence to the Bounty Exchange, trading the corpses of four Root members for ten million Ryo. Second, Dan knew that even if he brought out the Root corpses and made a scene, he still couldn't do anything to Danzo.

So he planned to play the long game and keep milking Root. As long as Danzo dared to send people after him, Dan would do it again and again, take their corpses, and cash them in.

However.

If things ever reached the point of no return,

Dan wasn't going to bother with schemes. He'd just storm the Root Base and kill Danzo. That would be the end of it.

For now, Dan was more concerned about something else—

There was only one day left until the Uchiha Clan Meeting.

There was a ring inside the Fitness Gym.

At that moment,

Dan and Samui were both wearing white T-shirts printed with "Meat Modification" and red shorts as they practiced Jujutsu in the ring.

Jujutsu might sound a little like the Hyuga Clan's Gentle Fist, but the two were nothing alike.

Jujutsu was a martial art from Dan's previous life.

Its focus was on taking an opponent to the ground, then using the body to subdue them with chokes and joint locks.

Its drawbacks were obvious. Since it was a grappling art, it wasn't suited for fighting multiple opponents at once.

But its advantages were just as clear: one-on-one, it was invincible—a form of Taijutsu worthy of being called the "king of one-on-one combat."

Even in this world of ninja, Dan still believed that.

After all,

Ninja and ordinary people alike had one head, two arms, and two legs. The structure of the human joints and muscles was always the same—even for Otsutsuki Kaguya.

Dan believed that if any form of Taijutsu could defeat Kaguya, it had to be Jujutsu.

It was a grappling art, and the key was in the word "grapple": you had to lock yourself tightly together with your opponent.

For example, right now.

In the ring,

Dan and Samui were lying on the floor, their bodies crossed at a 90-degree angle.

Dan's legs were pressing down on Samui's neck and chest. At the same time, he'd threaded one of her arms between his legs, clasped it in both hands, and pinned it against his chest.

Dan thrust his hips upward.

In an instant, the leverage forced Samui's elbow joint to extend past its normal range, putting it under tremendous strain.

She was at risk of a pulled muscle or even a dislocated elbow.

"Tap, tap, tap!"

Samui grimaced in pain and hurriedly slapped the mat with her free hand to give up.

This was the Armbar, one of the most iconic Jujutsu techniques.

It was easy to learn the basics, but it had many variations and was difficult to master.

"Got it? Now you try."

After demonstrating and explaining the move, Dan had Samui try it as the attacker.

Facing Dan as he lay on the floor, Samui eagerly climbed on top of him and applied the Armbar from the mount. The whole sequence flowed smoothly.

She'd done it very well.

"Pretty quick learner," Dan remarked as Samui pinned him beneath her.

"Thank you, Gym Director." Pleased by the praise, Samui got to her feet and tucked a lock of hair behind her ear.

Next up was the Rear Naked Choke.

As usual, Dan demonstrated the technique, repeating what he'd done to Tsunade two days earlier, this time with Samui.

"Go ahead."

At Dan's word, Samui darted behind him, leaped onto his back, and locked her arms around his neck.

At the same time, she wrapped her legs around his waist and squeezed, preventing him from escaping by shifting his hips.

But there was an awkward problem.

Dan was simply too big. Samui's legs weren't long enough to lock him in place.

On top of that, her large breasts got in the way and made it harder to perform the technique.

With a thud,

Dan easily broke free, then threw Samui to the mat with a hip toss.

Seeing her look a little discouraged, Dan offered some timely encouragement:

"You've improved a lot lately. You're probably at the level of a Konoha Genin now."

"Really?"

Samui pretended to brighten at his words, but inwardly she was furious.

She was a Special Jonin from the Cloud Hidden Village.

Cloud Hidden ninja were generally better fighters than Konoha Ninja. At least, that was what Samui believed.

"Have you ever thought about becoming a ninja? The pay would definitely be better than working for me. If you're interested, I could recommend you to my brother-in-law."

Dan suddenly made the suggestion.

Huh?

Samui froze for a second, then hurriedly waved her hands. "No, thank you, Gym Director. I want to keep working here. Please... don't send me away."

She bit her lip, looking anxious and uneasy.

As if.

Her only mission was to study Uchiha Dan from head to toe and send his intelligence back to the Cloud Hidden Village. The Fourth Raikage was waiting for it, after all.

Samui would have loved to eat and sleep alongside Dan. Why would she leave him to become some Konoha Genin?

"All right." Dan nodded and said no more.

After taking a short break, they continued practicing.

They trained all afternoon.

At dusk, Uchiha Itachi pushed open the Fitness Gym's door and walked inside.

Following the sounds, he made his way to the ring.

A man and a woman were practicing the Triangle Choke.

Samui was lying on the floor, her pale thighs clamped around Dan's neck. She held his head in both hands and pulled it down hard toward her chest.

Once the Triangle Choke was locked in, there was basically no escape.

Unfortunately, Samui's opponent was Dan.

After she caught him in the hold, he simply stood up with her entire weight attached to him, then swung her down onto the mat.

With a thud, he broke the hold through sheer force.

Looking down at Samui's wounded expression, Dan said coolly,

"Technique matters, but strength is always the foundation. A three-year-old could master Jujutsu perfectly and still never beat a grown man."

"I understand, Gym Director."

Samui got up from the floor and bowed to Dan.

Dan might always manhandle her, but after getting used to such intense training, facing other people would naturally be much easier.

"Sorry, am I interrupting?" Itachi spoke up.

Whoosh.

Dan jumped down from the ring and wiped away his sweat with a towel. Casually, he asked his nephew,

"Samui said you haven't been to the gym these past few days. Were you away on a mission? Did everything go all right?"

"Thank you for your concern, Uncle."

Itachi bowed slightly. After hesitating for two seconds, he finally explained why he'd come. "Uncle, there's something I want to talk to you about. It's about tomorrow's Clan Meeting."

Oh?

"Of course."

Dan agreed readily. It was clear Itachi didn't want to talk here, so Dan patted his nephew on the shoulder. "Let's go for a walk."

The alley where the Fitness Gym stood was on the outskirts of the village.

There was a mountain path behind the alley, so the uncle and nephew followed it uphill.

On the mountain path,

Dan glanced at Itachi. When Itachi remained silent, Dan didn't speak first either.

At last,

Itachi seemed to have settled on what to say. He raised his head and asked Dan, "Uncle, have you awakened the Sharingan?"

He'd never seen Dan's Sharingan.