Ideals

"How is it? Is that enough?"

"Mm, it still feels like something's missing. A little more."

Ayako Hyuuga struck him twice more, using the Gentle Fist to drive Chakra into Mo Jingxian's body.

"How about now? Is that enough?"

Mo Jingxian's features were scrunched together. After a good while, they gradually returned to normal.

Honestly, you had to experience it to know what it felt like.

He carefully sensed the flow of Chakra inside him. When it passed the tenketsu where the wedge had been embedded, the Chakra suddenly became docile.

That was right—it had become docile. His own Chakra froze in place, neither advancing nor retreating.

But the two kinds of elements lurking within the Chakra were unaffected and passed through with ease.

Interesting. A sudden inspiration struck Mo Jingxian, and he deliberately controlled the elements, letting them merge with the foreign Chakra.

Gradually,

the Chakra Ayako Hyuuga had driven into his body melted away like ice cream.

Not only that, he could control it and slowly force it out of his body.

"How did you do that?" Ayako had activated her Byakugan and watched the entire process.

The Hyuuga Clan's signature technique was the Gentle Fist. Throughout history, no ninja had ever managed to break free of its control.

In the early days of the Hokage era, the Hyuuga's reputation as the leading ninja clan had been earned one punch at a time.

Mo Jingxian didn't answer Ayako right away. He was still immersed in the sensation he'd just experienced.

He silently worked it out.

Chakra couldn't control the free-floating energy in the air, so most ninjutsu were straightforward and direct.

Elements, however, could manipulate ten times their own amount of scattered energy, making their attacks much more flexible and varied.

But training in the elements was incredibly slow. Their total quantity was still less than one percent of his Chakra.

That was why the elements couldn't control the movement of Chakra.

But he'd just managed it. Why?

Thinking back over the changes of the past few days, the only explanation was the new ability his eyes had given him.

There was no other possibility.

Mo Jingxian came back to himself and looked at Ayako. "What did you just say?"

"Nothing."

"Oh." Mo Jingxian led Ayako to a corner of the training ground. "Come on, hurry up. We're short on time."

Ayako instinctively took a step back. "Hurry up with what? What are you talking about?"

Hm?

He realized Ayako seemed to have misunderstood something.

He didn't know why people in the Ninja World grew up so fast. A twelve-year-old little girl already knew quite a bit.

"Thwack." He flicked her forehead. "What are you thinking? I mean, use the Gentle Fist on me again."

Ayako's face turned red. She lowered her head and gripped the hem of her clothes, twisting it in her hands. "Oh."

They tried again.

This time, Mo Jingxian activated the Star Cross Eye, and the process was twice as fast as before.

Now he had precise data. His eyes' ability wasn't limited to releasing ninjutsu a second time; it could alter the way Chakra functioned on a deeper level.

It had much in common with the elemental system.

One bypassed the underlying rules, possessing higher authority from the start.

The other changed those underlying rules, making Chakra's properties respond more closely to his wishes.

Now that was interesting.

Until now, he'd always used the elements to energize his Chakra.

Now the cause and effect had been reversed.

Chakra had become a power bank for the elements.

He could completely alter Chakra's logic, gradually shifting it toward elemental properties.

Then he could use the elements to erode the Chakra. Given enough time, he would gain an ample supply of elemental power.

Water Element Mastery had been stuck at the peak of the intermediate level for ages, with no sign of a breakthrough.

So this was what he'd been missing. Energy had different levels, and without enough of it, of course he couldn't advance.

Mo Jingxian suddenly saw his future path of cultivation clearly.

Change Chakra's logic—let the elements erode it—increase the quantity of the elements—advance.

The path to leveling up had never been clearer.

Perfect. He gave himself a mental thumbs-up.

"Are you done?"

Ayako Hyuuga saw his expression changing from one moment to the next and grew a little worried.

"Couldn't be better." Mo Jingxian suddenly picked Ayako up and spun her around. "Ayako, you're my lucky star."

He was so excited that the girl's face turned as red as a piece of cloth.

Suddenly!

An irritating rebuke shattered their excitement.

"Let go of her!"

A Hyuuga youth who looked around seventeen or eighteen walked toward them, followed by a man and a woman.

The man was Hyuuga Aoshi, a member of the Main Family.

The two behind him were guards from the Branch Family.

The woman was about Ayako's age.

The other man, who looked two or three years older than the two girls, was the one who had stepped forward to lecture them.

All three wore Hyuuga Clan clothing, but the two guards had their foreheads covered with protectors.

When they reached them, the Branch Family guard barked at Mo Jingxian, "How dare you! Get your filthy hands off her!"

His eyes were filled with a contempt so thick it could be cut with a knife. It wasn't directed at anyone in particular; he looked at everyone outside the Hyuuga Clan that way.

Mo Jingxian didn't spare him a glance. Instead, he looked at the youth from the Main Family. "Keep your dog on a leash. If he barks at me again, I won't mind knocking every tooth out of his mouth."

Ayako Hyuuga didn't hide behind him. She stood at his side, making her position clear through her actions.

The youth's brow furrowed slightly. He didn't like Ayako's attitude.

"Cilian isn't anyone's dog. Watch your language," he said, though his eyes stayed fixed on Ayako.

"Ayako." The female guard, who had been silent until then, spoke up as well. "As the Lord's fiancée, everything you say and do reflects on him. Please don't do anything that brings shame upon him."

Fiancée?

Mo Jingxian turned to look at Ayako. Why had she never mentioned that?

Ayako met his gaze and shook her head. He understood. It was more of the same rotten, absurd nonsense from these decaying clans.

"I'm not anyone's fiancée." Ayako Hyuuga's voice was firm.

"I've never agreed to marry anyone, and no one has the right to choose my life for me."

At last, she had said what was in her heart. Standing before someone from the Main Family, she no longer bowed her head.

The youth hadn't even said anything yet when the two guards, as if deeply insulted, charged at them.

"Defying your superiors? Slap her!"

"Smack!"

Mo Jingxian had somehow appeared in front of Ayako.

Before the guard called Cilian could strike, Mo Jingxian slapped him, then kicked him flying.

The female guard had already been sealed inside a huge block of ice.

The clash was over in the blink of an eye.

Mo Jingxian dispatched the two guards with swift efficiency.

A flicker of wariness crossed Hyuuga Aoshi's eyes. He had seen Mo Jingxian's movements clearly.

That was precisely why he had to be cautious.

The kid was incredibly fast, and his Kekkei Genkai activated without a sound. He was a difficult opponent.

He raised an arm to stop the guard from charging in again, then gave Mo Jingxian a long, hard look.

Hyuuga Aoshi walked slowly to the block of ice.

"Ayako, refusing me won't change anything." He pressed his palm against the ice.

"You know the clan's rules. This is the elders' decision."

He released a surge of Gentle Fist Chakra, and cracks spread through the ice.

"It doesn't matter whether you like it or not. You'll still have to get past the clan elders."

He struck again with his palm. Ice shards flew everywhere, yet the female guard wasn't hurt in the slightest.

Hyuuga Aoshi turned around and looked seriously at Ayako. "So... have you thought about the consequences of defying the elders' orders?"

The shattered ice slowly melted, leaving little patches of water on the ground.

"Rules, my ass!"

Mo Jingxian scoffed. "Listen, old man, don't dress up your lust as something noble. It just makes people look down on you."

It was the first time anyone had called Hyuuga Aoshi an old man. The image he'd worked to maintain began to crack.

The corners of his mouth twitched uncontrollably.

Mo Jingxian's verbal attack continued. "Drop that hypocritical act. You're disgusting to look at."

The two guards had their hands on their waists, waiting for their master's order so they could tear apart this insolent brat who knew nothing of respect.

Several times, Hyuuga Aoshi wanted to teach Mo Jingxian a lesson, but each time he forced himself to hold back.

The elders' words still rang in his ears: Lord Hokage thinks very highly of that girl, Ayako. You understand what to do, don't you?

He took a deep breath, clearing away all unnecessary emotion.

It was only a nominal arrangement. It wasn't worth causing himself trouble over such a small matter.

"Let's go!"

Once he'd made up his mind, Hyuuga Aoshi turned and left.

The corner of the training ground grew quiet again, but neither of them was in the mood to train anymore.

The setting sun gilded the edges of the leaves, and its afterglow spread across Konoha's streets.

A boy and a girl walked over from the training ground.

"Xian." Ayako's voice was soft.

"Mm, I'm listening." The boy laced his hands behind his head, a leaf stem between his lips.

"Do you know? My parents died protecting the Main Family." Ayako tucked a loose strand of hair behind her ear. "But the clan told me it was their honor."

"Don't you think that's ridiculous?"

"Yeah, it is pretty ridiculous."

"Thank you."

Mo Jingxian tilted his head to look at Ayako. "It's hypocritical, isn't it?"

Ayako Hyuuga nodded. "Yeah. Even a child can see how hypocritical it is, but they guard it like some precious treasure. Anyone who dares question it gets punished under the clan rules."

"People protecting their own interests."

Ayako's eyes lit up. "You put it so well."

For once, Mo Jingxian blushed a little.

"Tell me more about that beautiful country. Did they eventually come to understand one another?"

Mo Jingxian looked up at the horizon, his eyes distant for a brief moment. "I don't know..."

"I really wish I could see it with my own eyes!"

The two walked the rest of the way in silence and arrived at the front door.

Mo Jingxian opened the door and looked back at Ayako, who was standing there in a daze. "What are you standing around for? Come in."

"Oh."

She took off her shoes and went inside.

He told Ayako to sit on the sofa for a while, then went to the kitchen to make something to eat.

They'd been active all day, and both were starving.

Ayako didn't say she was going home, and Mo Jingxian didn't ask.

There was plenty of room here, enough for both of them.

Twenty minutes later,

Mo Jingxian held a small bowl and slurped down his noodles, nearly burying his face in it.

Ayako held her chopsticks and watched him with a smile.

After a while,

"Xian."

"What?"

"Does that country you told me about really exist?"

Mo Jingxian set down his bowl. He didn't know why she was so interested, but he nodded.

A flame of hope suddenly kindled in Ayako Hyuuga's heart.

She declared resolutely, "Let's create a country like that too."

"Who?" Mo Jingxian asked in surprise. "You and me?"

"Mm."

"Wait... This is a long road. It might even take thousands of years.

"It'll take generation after generation of exploration, and even then there'll only be the slimmest chance of success.

"And we'll need overwhelming strength to protect it. Do you think the two of us can do it?"

"Everything has to start somewhere." The girl had never been so serious. "No matter how hard it is, I want to try. Not for any other reason, but because I don't want to live in a world where everything is twisted."

"Come with me, Xian!"