In the basement, Hyuuga Nen sat on the floor. He reached out and pulled a book in front of him. On its cover were four large characters: "Will of Fire!"
"Will of Fire? No matter how I look at it, my father doesn't seem like someone with the Will of Fire," Hyuuga Nen said with a little amusement.
Hyuuga Nen opened the book and quickly skimmed through it. It turned out to be about him and the Hyuga Clan.
In the book, Hyuuga Nen's father revealed his name: Hyuga Shun. He described some details about himself and briefly introduced the history of the Hyuga Clan, as well as the Main Branch and Branch Family system. He also expressed his dissatisfaction with that system.
At the end of the book, Hyuga Shun focused on the Hyuga Clan's Byakugan and the Caged Bird system. He warned Hyuuga Nen never to reveal that he possessed the Byakugan, because so many people in the Shinobi World coveted the Hyuga Clan's Byakugan.
He also warned Hyuuga Nen never to let anyone mark him with the Caged Bird Seal, or he would lose his freedom forever.
Closing the book, Hyuuga Nen stared at the floor and said, "Although my father explained who he was, he still didn't make it clear why he left me outside Konoha. What does he want me to do?"
Hyuuga Nen stopped dwelling on questions with no answers, opened the other scroll, and began reading it carefully.
The first thing Hyuuga Nen saw on the scroll was a description of how the Hyuga Clan practiced the Gentle Fist. The training methods for the Eight Trigrams Thirty-Two Palms, Eight Trigrams Sixty-Four Palms, Rotation, and even the Eight Trigrams Vacuum Palm were all recorded there.
"Did my father get these training methods through official channels, or did he learn them in secret? Either way, it makes no difference to me. I definitely can't let anyone see me use the Gentle Fist."
The scroll also recorded some Strong Fist training methods, such as the Konoha Whirlwind and Konoha Strong Whirlwind. These were probably both Konoha-style Strong Fist.
"If I use these Taijutsu techniques, I'll have to make sure no one finds out."
Hyuuga Nen continued reading. "Seal of Resilience, Seal of Delay?"
The Seal of Resilience was an advanced Sealing Technique, created by combining Sealing Techniques with Cursed Seal techniques. It could strengthen the effects of a technique, specifically by extending its duration and reducing its cost.
The Seal of Delay was an unconventional method of forming Hand Seals. Using it allowed a ninjutsu technique to activate after a delay. Of course, this method had its limits: techniques that were too difficult or costly couldn't be used with it.
"I've never heard of these Sealing Techniques or this way of forming Hand Seals, but they seem incredible!" Hyuuga Nen pushed down his surprise and carefully read the descriptions of the two techniques.
At the end of the scroll, Hyuuga Nen's father had specifically warned him that both techniques were as difficult as S-rank ninjutsu, and that he shouldn't try to learn them until he was confident he could handle them.
"These two techniques seem to be my father's specialties." Hyuuga Nen thought of the method his father had used to seal his Byakugan when he was born. It must have been the Seal of Resilience.
"The Gentle Fist, plus two S-rank techniques... It seems my father passed on every ninjutsu and Taijutsu technique he knew."
Hyuuga Nen felt excited, but also burdened and worried.
That night, while everyone was asleep, Hyuuga Nen slipped out of the house and hurried toward the forest.
Hyuuga Nen took this training seriously. He brought a katana and prepared a ninja tool pouch filled with all kinds of weapons and equipment.
A while later, Hyuuga Nen reached the forest and saw that Black Panther was already waiting for him.
"Let's begin. Show me your combat experience." Even as he spoke, Black Panther kept his arms crossed, showing no sign of tension.
At Black Panther's words, Hyuuga Nen lowered his body and fixed his gaze on him. He pulled a kunai from his ninja tool pouch, aimed at Black Panther, and hurled it with all his strength.
Facing the incoming kunai, Black Panther gave a light push with his hind legs and leaped onto a tree trunk, casually brushing aside Hyuuga Nen's first probe.
Seeing Black Panther leap into the tree, Hyuuga Nen froze for a moment, then prepared to pull out a second kunai and force him down.
"You can slow down the pace of the fight. I can already tell your combat experience is poor, but this is training. You can think before deciding what to do next," Black Panther said lazily.
At Black Panther's words, Hyuuga Nen nodded and put the kunai back in his pouch. He took out a small black ball and hurled it at the ground in front of him.
With a bang, clouds of smoke billowed out, concealing Hyuuga Nen. Before the smoke could disperse, he began forming Hand Seals. "Shadow Clone Technique!"
As soon as the words left his mouth, two Shadow Clones appeared beside Hyuuga Nen. "Attack together!" With that, all three charged at Black Panther in a triangular formation.
When they reached the tree, Hyuuga Nen pulled out a kunai again and hurled it at Black Panther. Another Hyuuga Nen, holding a katana, used the Body Flicker Technique to leap into the air and reach Black Panther, bringing his blade down hard.
The last Hyuuga Nen ran up the tree trunk, trying to engage Black Panther in close combat.
Black Panther crouched on the tree and watched Hyuuga Nen's clones in silence. First, he spat out a blade of wind. It shot toward the Hyuuga Nen in midair and pierced straight through his body.
Facing the incoming kunai, Black Panther nimbly shifted to the side and dodged it.
Looking at the Hyuuga Nen climbing the tree, Black Panther simply extended his tail and wrapped it tightly around his wrist. He gave a hard tug, hoisting him into the air, then lightly slashed with his sharp claws. The clone vanished with a bang.
"Fire Style: Great Fireball Technique!"
Black Panther turned his head and saw Hyuuga Nen beneath the tree, already done forming Hand Seals. He opened his mouth, and a huge red fireball appeared, hurtling toward Black Panther.
"Wind Style: Great Breakthrough!"
Facing the attack from a distance, Black Panther used ninjutsu too. Gales burst from his mouth one after another. The fireball and the gusts of wind collided in midair, triggering a violent explosion.
Amid the explosion and the howling wind, Hyuuga Nen had no choice but to close his eyes. Just then, he felt a sharp pain in his neck. Black Panther had somehow appeared right in front of him, its sharp claws pressed against his throat.
"It's over." Black Panther withdrew his claws, crossed his arms, and crouched down, quietly watching Hyuuga Nen.
Hyuuga Nen stopped moving and felt a wave of discouragement. "My combat experience is still far too poor!"
Black Panther saw that Hyuuga Nen looked downcast and said, "It's normal to lack combat experience when you train alone. You'll get better with practice. In that fight, there was nothing wrong with probing me with the kunai. But when I jumped into the tree, you clearly froze for a moment. That's a sign of inexperience. After that, you used Shadow Clones under cover of the smoke to attack me, and your final Great Fireball Technique were all handled well."
Black Panther then went over the fight with Hyuuga Nen, pointing out what he had done well and where he had gone wrong. Hyuuga Nen knew he wouldn't get many chances like this, so he listened carefully to Black Panther's analysis and advice.
"All right, that's enough training for today. I can tell you've got a lot of questions. Go ahead and ask. I'll answer whatever I can."
Seeing Hyuuga Nen hesitate as if he wanted to say something, Black Panther seemed to guess what he was thinking and spoke first.
Before you continue