Byakugan: Open!
Clone Technique!
"Poof!"
A cloud of smoke burst into existence.
There were now two Hyuga Hoshishaku on the field.
Watching him, Senju Tobirama was at a loss.
A clone like that would crumble at a touch. Aside from using it to bully weak opponents with taijutsu or create a distraction for an escape, it was useless.
As he tried to work out Hoshishaku's strategy, the real Hoshishaku took out a stack of sealing tags and handed them to his clone.
"Teacher Tobirama, I'm going to use Sealing Techniques now."
Clone Hoshishaku gave him a serious warning.
Tobirama's expression turned strange, as did those of the six boys watching nearby.
It was just a Sealing Technique, wasn't it?
Had this kid been spoiled by his family? Had he learned how to use a Sealing Scroll and started bragging like he was the greatest?
With all those strange looks on him, Hoshishaku and his clone moved apart to take up their positions, then raised their sealing tags.
"Sealing-In Technique!"
As soon as the words left his mouth, a tremendous pull like a hurricane appeared out of nowhere.
Tobirama, standing in the training ground, was dragged two unsteady steps forward.
If he hadn't reacted in time and coated his feet with chakra, he would have been sucked right over.
The Sealing-In Technique used by the clone at the same time worked, too.
Standing where the two whirlwinds converged, Tobirama was caught in their massive pull from the very first second, dragged this way and that.
By the second second, his clothes began to rip with a "rrrip."
His gray short-sleeved shirt was instantly torn away, revealing a scarred torso.
Just before the two pulls could rip apart his pants, he flashed behind Hoshishaku's clone, scowling, and prepared to dispel it without a word.
But the real Hoshishaku had already noticed what was happening.
The moment the clone was struck and burst apart,
the real Hoshishaku raised the sealing tag toward where the clone had been.
He changed how he used his chakra, making the tag, which had been absorbing the surrounding air, release it instead.
"Unsealing Technique!"
The next moment, the whirlwind that had been absorbing air for over five seconds reversed direction. It blasted forward, carrying soil and dust straight toward Tobirama.
Tobirama had already lost his shirt. He had no desire to take those irritating gusts head-on with his bare upper body.
So he flashed again, appearing on the opposite side from the whirlwind.
As soon as he landed, something came whistling through the air.
Eight Trigrams: Sixty-Four Palms!
It turned out that as soon as Hoshishaku's first clone had been struck and dispersed,
he had kept one hand on the sealing tag while forming the Hand Seals for a new Clone Technique.
In an incredibly brief moment, he had exchanged the sealing tag with his original self. The real Hoshishaku had used the Transformation Technique to turn into a pebble, which the clone tossed a short distance behind him.
He had calculated this spot while watching the other two go through their tests.
If Tobirama didn't want to get blown away by the whirlwind, he would definitely appear behind him.
So the real Hoshishaku waited for Tobirama to show up, then immediately unleashed his strongest attack.
Eight Trigrams: Sixty-Four Palms!
An invisible Eight Trigrams pattern appeared beneath his feet.
His first sneak attack landed squarely on Tobirama's chest.
The Gentle Fist, infused with chakra, directly blocked the meridians in Tobirama's chest, preventing his chakra from flowing through them.
Within a second, his second strike landed on Tobirama's neck. Through his Byakugan, Hoshishaku saw the meridians there blocked as well.
The third strike, the fourth, the fifth... the sixty-fourth!
For seven or eight seconds, Hoshishaku's arms moved so fast they became blurs as he pummeled the bare-chested Shadow Clone of Senju Tobirama.
That was right: a Shadow Clone.
A more advanced technique than the Clone Technique, one capable of using ninjutsu.
He had known from the start, after using System Inspection on Tobirama, that this was a Shadow Clone carrying only thirty thousand points of chakra.
After all, Senju Tobirama's real body had a hundred and fifty thousand.
With only thirty thousand points, what else could it be but a Shadow Clone?
Still, this Shadow Clone was far too resilient.
It had taken the full Eight Trigrams Sixty-Four Palms and still hadn't dispersed.
Did that mean none of those strikes had actually hurt him?
Then why had his meridians been blocked?
Right. Since he was a clone, his chakra was like water without a source. With no steady supply of chakra, the Gentle Fist had simply left his blocked meridians uncleared. But for him, blocking the meridians didn't count as an injury.
No, that wasn't precise. It wasn't for him in general; for this Shadow Clone in front of him, blocking the meridians didn't count as an injury.
After Hoshishaku's final strike landed, a hint of a smile appeared on Tobirama's usually stern face.
"That was my first time experiencing the full Eight Trigrams Sixty-Four Palms of the Hyuga Clan. It's a strange feeling, having every meridian in my body blocked."
"Honestly, if our difference in strength weren't so great, even my real body would've taken a hit. Don't you think so, kid?"
As he spoke, he leaned back to dodge Hoshishaku's Gentle Fist, then launched an attack of his own.
Hoshishaku had planned to use the Gentle Fist to block the attack, but a sonic boom erupted from Tobirama's fist.
It startled him, and he immediately leaped backward to evade the blow.
But after dodging several times, he was at a crushing disadvantage. He was about to run out of room to dodge and take a punch.
At the critical moment, Hoshishaku quickly formed Hand Seals.
Boar, Dog, Rooster, Monkey, Ram.
"Summoning Technique!"
A wall carved with a summoning formula appeared between them!
The next moment, Tobirama's fist slammed into it.
"Boom!"
The wall he had just summoned was shattered by a single punch.
Hoshishaku's temple twitched at the sight.
So that was the Strength of a Hundred Seal Fist!
If he got hit by that, wouldn't he end up in the hospital on the spot?
Hoshishaku broke into a cold sweat and pulled out another stack of sealing tags, ready to play dirty.
But when Tobirama saw him emerge through the broken wall, he clearly didn't want to let him use that disgusting Basic Sealing Technique again.
"All right, all right, we're done. Your moves are disgusting, kid. You tore my clothes and hit me dozens of times, and I still couldn't hit you back."
He spoke bluntly, making no effort to hide his desire for revenge.
But inwardly, he was deep in thought.
He hadn't paid much attention when Hoshishaku himself claimed to have a talent for Space-Time Ninjutsu.
But he could tell just from that most basic Sealing Technique: this wasn't merely a little talent. It was practically off the charts.
And his Summoning Technique only proved it further.
Why did ninjas usually sign Summoning Contracts only with summoned beasts?
Aside from their strength,
it was because most summoned beasts had some talent for space-time.
They could make up for the summoner's lack of talent, allowing them to successfully perform the Summoning Technique through the combined effort of one side summoning and the other answering the call.
Those who could summon inanimate objects like Hoshishaku were without exception exceptionally talented.
Thinking of this, Tobirama gave the new disciple standing there, panting heavily, a long look.
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