Taiji Fist and Taiji Sword

Early in the morning at the Hyuga Clan compound, Hyuga Shinichi woke up too early, having forgotten that it was the weekend and there was no school. Unable to fall back asleep, he had no choice but to head to the training grounds for his morning workout.

After a lap around the training grounds to warm up, Hyuga Shinichi prepared to begin his training for the day.

His main focus was on maintaining a stable flow of chakra. Although he had successfully executed the Wind-Style Sword Art: Wind Flow Coverage previously, and while others were unaware of it, Hyuga Shinichi knew the truth.

For his current self, keeping chakra consistently attached to the sword was far too taxing.

There were many factors at play, such as his young age; achieving this level of control was already quite impressive.

In fact, there was a simpler way to solve the problem of coating a weapon in chakra: chakra metal.

Chakra metal possessed the property of absorbing chakra. If forged into a sword, it could easily allow chakra to coat the blade, including nature transformations. The downside was that it was prohibitively expensive and rare; even with money, it was hard to come by.

"Sigh, I suppose I'll just have to follow Danzo's example and practice by attaching wind-attribute chakra to a kunai."

After saying this, Hyuga Shinichi assumed the starting stance of the Taiji Fist. He recalled his university days in his past life, where he had taken an elective course in Taiji Fist and developed a keen interest in it. His instructor was an elderly man with white hair and a beard, who always wore a clean white training uniform that gave him an air of purity.

Seeing that Shinichi wasn't just treating Taiji Fist as a hobby like the other students, the old man invited him to practice with him every morning.

After training with him for several years, Shinichi could tell the old man was the real deal. Unfortunately, the man retired due to his advanced age and declining health, and Shinichi never heard from him again.

"Overcome hardness with softness, overcome motion with stillness; use intent, not force; use technique, not energy."

Hyuga Shinichi slowly recited the words the old man had taught him. His body moved into the next posture as he mobilized the chakra within him, letting it flow slowly in accordance with his "intent."

Hyuga Shinichi's current idea was to forgo using his Byakugan to observe himself, relying instead on the "intent" of the Taiji Fist to control the flow of chakra, thereby refining his mastery over it.

However, Hyuga Shinichi was so focused that he failed to notice the wind-attribute chakra radiating from his body and flowing in sync with his movements. This caught the attention of the guards and several other members of the Hyuga Clan. After investigating with their Byakugan, they promptly alerted the clan head and the elders.

Soon, a group of people arrived at the training ground, only to find Hyuga Shinichi seemingly trapped within a small storm.

Some of them activated their Byakugan, clearly seeing that Hyuga Shinichi was guiding his internal wind-attribute chakra to flow in harmony with his movements.

As for the Taiji Fist Hyuga Shinichi was performing, it was a different style from their own Gentle Fist, yet the underlying principles were identical. No one thought much of it; after all, as a member of the main branch, Hyuga Shinichi had been exposed to the training methods of the Gentle Fist from a young age and was likely developing his own path.

However, those who were masters of the Gentle Fist and possessed high strength thought otherwise. Their eyes lit up as they watched Hyuga Shinichi's Taiji Fist, and some even began to ponder its intricacies.

After a long while, just as Hyuga Shinichi finished his set and prepared to withdraw, a clansman was about to step forward to ask a question when he saw Hyuga Shinichi kick a wooden sword up from the ground, catch the hilt in his right hand, and strike a new pose.

Because Hyuga Shinichi was facing away from the crowd with his eyes closed, fully immersed in controlling his internal chakra flow—a state akin to internal observation—he naturally hadn't noticed their arrival.

The Hyuga clansman who wanted to step forward glanced back at the clan head, Hyuga Nimitsu. Seeing Hyuga Nimitsu shake his head to signal them to keep watching, the man stepped back.

This time, Hyuga Shinichi's movements grew increasingly slow.

He was practicing the Taiji Sword, also taught to him by the old man in his past life. He remembered what the old man had said while sitting on the sidelines watching him practice.

"Fast swords are easy to learn, but slow swords are difficult. The slower you go, the harder it becomes. Practice the sword slowly to steady your heart."

The Taiji Sword was primarily about cultivating the heart, which also aided in the training of chakra flow. Once again, wind-attribute chakra swirled around his body, flowing slowly in time with each of Hyuga Shinichi's sword strikes.

Outside the circle, Hyuga Nimitsu watched Hyuga Shinichi's back in silence, as if he were seeing Shinichi's father, Hyuga Taiwa, who had also been a genius of the Hyuga Clan.

It was a pity that he had passed away young due to the recurrence of an old injury; otherwise, he would have held a high position in the clan, and Hyuga Shinichi's status would not be as invisible as it was now.

The other Hyuga elders watching also had their own thoughts, as they realized Hyuga Shinichi's extraordinary talent had already transcended the category of a mere genius.

Swish!

Upon completing the final movement, Hyuga Shinichi concentrated all his chakra into the wooden sword and thrust it forward. The wind-attribute chakra followed the strike, producing a sonic boom before dissipating into the air.

Hyuga Shinichi let out a heavy breath and looked at the wooden sword in his hand. This was his first time practicing the Taiji Sword in this life, and he had shattered the tip of the wooden sword. He couldn't help but offer a helpless, bitter smile.

"This wooden sword was borrowed from Nawaki. Now that I've broken it, I have to think about how to compensate him."

Although it was just an ordinary wooden sword, it had been borrowed from someone else, and judging by the craftsmanship of the carvings, it likely wasn't a cheap item.

What Hyuga Shinichi didn't know was that the wooden sword in his hand was merely one of the toys that the First Hokage, Senju Hashirama, had casually created for the children to play with.

Just as Hyuga Shinichi was wondering how to make amends, he turned around and saw a group of people staring at him with their Byakugan activated. For a moment, Hyuga Shinichi was subjected to a barrage of "white eyes."

"Hyuga Shinichi, was that the Gentle Fist you were just performing? It's very different from what we learn in the clan, but it feels no less effective. How did you develop this?"

The Hyuga clansman who had wanted to step forward earlier now had his face almost pressed against Hyuga Shinichi's, giving him quite a start.

Hyuga Shinichi stepped back, putting on the image of an innocent child, and spoke bluntly.

"I just let my body move as it pleased while practicing the Gentle Fist, thinking about when it would be better to exert force, and it just ended up like this."

"Is that so? Can you perform it in its entirety once more?"

The unfamiliar Hyuga clansman clearly seemed to be a martial arts fanatic; he had been excited ever since he saw the Taiji Fist and realized its potential.

"Enough! Everyone disperse and get back to your duties. Hyuga Shinichi, come with us."

An elder spoke up, and the crowd dispersed to attend to their own affairs.

Inside the Hyuga Clan meeting room.

At the head of the table sat the two clan heads of the main and branch families. Standing on either side were Hyuga Hiashi and Hizashi Hyuga, who were being groomed as the future successors of their respective branches. The four clan elders were also seated.

Including Hyuga Shinichi, who was standing and facing the group, there were nine people in total.

Hyuga Shinichi had realized that the issue was the Taiji Fist he had been practicing. He had performed it alone before, but without using chakra, it had gone unnoticed.

He still couldn't understand why performing a bit of Taiji Fist had drawn so much attention. While Taiji Fist had many benefits in his past life, surely it didn't warrant such a grand spectacle.

What Hyuga Shinichi did not know was that when Taiji Fist was combined with chakra and the Byakugan, its effectiveness was in no way inferior to the Gentle Fist.

The Gentle Fist is a taijutsu style that injects one's own chakra into an enemy's body to damage their chakra pathways and internal organs.

Taiji Fist showed them a new path for the Hyuga Clan. Using their Byakugan, they could see how Taiji Fist allowed the weak to overcome the strong, using minimal force to contend with great power, borrowing force to strike back, achieving the feat of moving a thousand pounds with four ounces, and overcoming hardness with softness—winning through finesse rather than brute strength.

In the past, whoever possessed greater strength and superior technique would win in close-quarters combat, but the emergence of Taiji Fist allowed them to refute this notion; as long as they did not encounter an enemy with overwhelming strength, they could significantly increase their chances of defeating the enemy and surviving.

On a larger scale, if the entire Hyuga Clan could master this Taiji Fist, it would elevate the strength of the Hyuga Clan to a much higher level.