The Future Direction

"Do you know? There's a noodle shop that sells ice cream. It's icy cold and tastes incredibly good."

"Ice cream? What's that?" the young boy asked, puzzled.

"I'll take you there next time. You'll understand once you've tried it. No amount of words can compare to tasting it yourself."

Ice cream had become quite the trend lately, though it was hard for it not to be popular with Hyuga Gen pulling the strings behind the scenes.

They had heard plenty of chatter about it recently, and to be honest, he was quite pleased; it meant his efforts hadn't been in vain.

"Xia, have you seen Xiaojin these past few days?"

"No, why?"

"I haven't run into it lately either. You don't think someone caught it and roasted it for a meal, do you?"

Hyuga Gen said this with some uncertainty. Xiaojin really hadn't returned for several days, and he was starting to worry.

"What should we do? We haven't even eaten it yet, that would be a waste! Brother Dongyi, we need to go look for it right away."

Hyuga Natsu seemed quite anxious, though her line of reasoning was rather unique.

"The day after tomorrow is the weekend. If we still haven't seen it by then, we'll go look."

Hyuga Gen had already decided in his heart that if he found it, he would give it a good thrashing first. Unfortunately, when he did find it, he didn't end up hitting it—but that is a story for another time.

School had been in session for nearly a month, and as usual, Hyuga Gen and Hyuga Natsu walked to the Ninja Academy together.

Upon arriving in the classroom and exchanging greetings with Uchiha Itachi, Hyuga Gen began chatting with Uchiha Izumi.

This was the advantage of being desk-mates; proximity made it easier to get what one wanted. With Hyuga Gen paying intentional attention, he was learning more and more about Uchiha Izumi.

He learned that she wasn't born in Konoha and had only moved back the year before last. It seemed she had come to rely on her mother's family for a living after her father passed away.

However, good times didn't last. During the Nine-Tails Incident, her grandmother had suffered a fall, and due to her advanced age, she passed away shortly thereafter.

Hyuga Gen also realized that Konoha's medical care wasn't exactly top-tier. A Konoha with Tsunade and a Konoha without her were worlds apart in terms of medical standards.

Now, she and her mother lived together in an old house, struggling to make ends meet. Whenever she had free time, she would help her mother with chores or take on odd jobs to supplement their income.

Thinking of himself, he lived like a young master. While he wasn't exactly being fed and clothed by others, he wasn't far off.

Come to think of it, while the Uchiha Clan was powerful, they weren't as wealthy as the Hyuga Clan. They valued martial arts and ninjutsu but had failed to develop their commerce properly.

Of course, ever since the Second Hokage's time, the Uchiha had been suppressed, making it no easy task to develop a business.

"Izumi, have you noticed that Itachi seems a bit different today?"

Hyuga Gen asked after glancing at Uchiha Itachi again. For some reason, he felt there was something slightly off about him today.

"I don't think so. How is he different?"

Uchiha Izumi also glanced at Itachi, then looked at Hyuga Gen with a confused expression.

"I can't quite put my finger on it, it's just a feeling."

Hyuga Gen was lost in thought, but before he could ponder it further, the bell rang, and the teacher walked into the classroom to take attendance.

As for the curriculum taught at the Ninja Academy, Hyuga Gen already knew it by heart. The only difference was the absence of the Body Replacement Technique.

Yes, there was no Body Replacement Technique; it seemed this world lacked that specific ninjutsu. Considering it was one of the essential basic techniques taught at the Ninja Academy in Shippuden, its absence was a bit strange, but he didn't dwell on it.

In truth, the knowledge taught at the Ninja Academy was quite comprehensive, covering taijutsu, ninjutsu, genjutsu, and sealing arts, though only at a very basic level.

Taijutsu focused on fundamental techniques; ninjutsu covered chakra extraction, the Transformation Technique, and the Clone Technique; genjutsu was limited to theory and methods for dispelling illusions; and sealing arts were merely introduced through basic concepts and the drawing of sealing scrolls.

The curriculum primarily focused on taijutsu, ninjutsu, and the use of various ninja tools, with only the rudiments of genjutsu and sealing arts taught in the higher grades.

Genjutsu and sealing arts only became effective at higher levels. Low-level genjutsu could only exert a slight influence on a person, and low-level sealing arts couldn't even trap a bird; they required multiple people to cast them to have any effect. High-level sealing arts were rare treasures, inaccessible without significant strength and contributions.

Moreover, these two types of arts had extremely high requirements for talent. For those without special aptitude, learning them was like chewing wax—tasteless and useless—often less effective than simply throwing a shuriken.

Of course, everything had two sides. While not being proficient was indeed useless, reaching a level of mastery was an entirely different story.

The Uchiha Clan was famous throughout the ninja world for their Sharingan-based genjutsu. Once the Sharingan was awakened, one could basically use genjutsu to catch others off guard.

And ocular techniques like Uchiha Itachi's Tsukuyomi or Shisui's Kotoamatsukami were so powerful they felt like bugs in the system. If you learned well, you were a god; if not, you were a clown.

Without a bloodline limit, very few ordinary people could master these arts. The only one with a bit of fame was Yuhi Kurenai, but even she was no match for "Tsukuyomi."

As for sealing arts, one had to mention the Uzumaki Clan. They were wiped out precisely because their mastery of sealing arts was too formidable—even Tailed Beasts could be sealed, which made others wary.

However, since the fall of the Uzumaki Clan, those who knew high-level sealing arts were few and far between, and such techniques were generally held by the upper echelons, completely out of reach for ordinary people.

Hyuga Gen didn't plan to delve deeply into genjutsu, focusing instead on how to dispel it. He had already realized he possessed a certain resistance to it.

He suspected this might be related to his soul merging with the original protagonist's, making his soul far stronger than an ordinary person's. He remembered that in Shippuden, Sakura had two souls—or rather, a dual personality—which resulted in exceptional mental strength, allowing her to break out of genjutsu almost instantly during the Chunin Exams.

One must remember she was only a Genin at the time, while most Chunin and even some Jonin had fallen for it. This showed the importance of a strong soul and mental fortitude, which was the ultimate weapon against genjutsu.

Hyuga Gen was very interested in sealing arts. Naturally, his primary motivation was his intense interest in the "Flying Thunder God Technique." Who wouldn't want to be the fastest man in the ninja world?

Although he didn't know the specifics of the Flying Thunder God Technique, he had seen "pigs run" enough times to believe that the key to mastering it lay in sealing arts.

Throughout Naruto Shippuden, only the Second and Fourth Hokage had mastered the Flying Thunder God Technique. While talent was important, analysis suggested that sealing arts were equally crucial.

Yes, it was the positioning coordinate formula of the Flying Thunder God. As long as the caster didn't actively erase it, the formula would remain, and without it, one could not perform a teleportation jump.

In Hyuga Gen's view, this tiny, seemingly simple sealing formula was the crux of the entire Flying Thunder God Technique. The reason Minato was able to master it was, first, his talent, and second, having a good wife like Uzumaki Kushina.

With a master of sealing arts guiding him, mastering the technique was a matter of course, and combined with Minato's own talent, he took to it like a duck to water.

Hyuga Gen already had a plan for his studies before graduation: chakra control, the Gentle Fist taijutsu, genjutsu dispelling, and exploring sealing arts. As for the rest, he would worry about that later.

Thinking of himself as a transmigrator, he lacked a system, but his soul was exceptionally strong. Coupled with a near-photographic memory, his knowledge of this world, and his drive, what could he not achieve?

Growing steadily, reaching the pinnacle of life, and then becoming a carefree salted fish—it was all just a matter of time.