The Advance of Gentle Fist

The Hyuga Main Family estate.

The spacious courtyard featured a pond with three islands and a flower garden fragrant with blossoms and greenery. Even with nearly a hundred Hyuga gathered there, it still didn't feel cramped.

It was hard to imagine that such a vast space was usually home to only a few members of the Hyuga Main Family.

"Damnable capi—ugh, feudalism!"

Genye stood among the crowd, shoulder to shoulder with several children his age.

At that moment, every member of the Branch Family stood silent as a mouse. Their clan head, Hyuga Yuansheng, was raging in front of them.

"It was because of your negligence that my son, Hyuga Hiashi, nearly died! The future of the Hyuga Clan almost went down with him!"

Several Branch Family members knelt before Yuansheng, their foreheads pressed to the ground. They didn't even dare breathe too loudly.

Beside him, Hyuga Hiashi, wrapped in bandages, wore a helpless, bitter smile.

"Father, I was greedy for credit and rushed ahead during the mission. I gave the wrong orders. It wasn't the guards' fault!"

Yuansheng snorted. "Hiashi, you don't need to make excuses for them. They're Branch Family. Failing to protect the Main Family is a mistake in itself!"

At that, one of the kneeling Branch Family members raised his head and cried out in anguish.

"Clan Head, we failed as guards and couldn't protect the Young Clan Head. We're willing to pay for our mistake with our lives!"

"Fools!" Yuansheng roared. "Did I give you permission to speak?"

"Pay for your mistake with your lives? After making such a serious mistake, you think you can just end it all by dying?"

"Do you think your lives are worth as much as the Main Family's?!"

As he spoke, Yuansheng angrily raised two fingers and activated the Caged Bird Seals on several members of the Branch Family.

The blue marks on their foreheads lit up.

In the next instant, they clutched their heads in unison, as if struck by a sudden illness, and cried out in pain.

"Gaaah!"

"Brother!" Seeing this, a girl standing beside Genye lost her head and tried to rush forward without a second thought.

One of the Branch Family members being punished was her older brother.

"Mei, are you crazy?" Genye's face changed. He immediately grabbed the girl.

But the next moment, Yuansheng's sharp gaze cut through the crowd and fell on them.

Damn it!

Genye felt a sudden warmth on his forehead. A moment later, an indescribable pain struck him.

It was as if someone had ripped apart his nerves, thrown them into a pot of boiling oil, and kept stabbing them with steel needles.

So this is the Caged Bird Seal... Damn you, Hyuga Yuansheng!

As waves of agony washed over him, Genye's consciousness grew hazy, and curses slipped out.

"Father, you've punished them enough. Please, stop!"

Unable to bear the sight, Hyuga Hiashi walked up to Yuansheng and pleaded on their behalf.

"Hmph. If I didn't teach them a lesson, how would they realize what they did wrong?"

Yuansheng gave a soft snort and ended the technique. Then he looked at the Branch Family members lying on the ground and asked,

"Have you learned your lesson?"

The Branch Family members struggled through the pain, straightened up on their knees, and replied, "We have!"

Genye gritted his teeth, helped the girl beside him to her feet, and quietly followed suit. "Genye... has learned his lesson!"

He had only tried to stop his companion, yet he'd been punished without rhyme or reason.

All because he had "defied" the Main Family. All because he was weak!

In this world, where the strong ruled and strength was everything, having no power was a mistake.

Genye lowered his eyes, a trace of coldness flashing in his pure white gaze.

Hyuga Yuansheng, I'll repay you for today's humiliation one day!

Yuansheng impatiently waved his hand and said in an ill-tempered voice,

"If Hiashi hadn't pleaded for you, I wouldn't have let you off so easily. Hurry up and thank him!"

"Thank you, Lord Hiashi!" The men hurriedly bowed to Hiashi, overflowing with gratitude.

Genye followed along, pretending to be grateful, though he sneered inwardly.

One played the good cop, the other the bad. The father and son had perfected the little trick of winning people over.

After a round of reprimands, the negligent guards were kept behind, while the rest of the Branch Family were "invited" out of the Main Family estate.

Called over whenever needed and dismissed just as easily—that was them in a nutshell.

"Brother Genye, I'm sorry. I got you into trouble just now."

The girl named Mei bowed deeply to Genye, tears in her eyes.

"...It's fine." Genye took a deep breath and helped her up.

He was indeed a little angry, but seeing how sincerely she apologized, he couldn't bring himself to say anything more.

Wait, maybe I can try copying her skill!

As he watched Mei, tears streaming down her face, Genye suddenly had an idea.

He and Mei usually got along well. Otherwise, he wouldn't have instinctively tried to stop her just now.

Mei's affection for him should be pretty high right now.

Might as well strike while the iron was hot!

"System, copy it for me!" Genye selected Mei and said silently in his mind.

[ Ding! Congratulations, host. You have acquired the skill "Gentle Fist"! ]

[ Since the host has already learned the skill "Gentle Fist", it has been automatically merged and upgraded to "Gentle Fist: Double"! ]

"Holy crap, it worked!"

Genye's eyes lit up. He felt the pain in his body ease, and immediately opened the skill description.

[ Gentle Fist: Double: The power is increased based on the original skill, doubling the damage. ]

"Holy crap! Holy crap! Double!"

Genye couldn't think of anything to say besides "holy crap."

It wasn't just a simple boost. His damage had doubled outright. This was way too good!

"Brother Genye, what's wrong?"

Seeing Genye standing there with a vacant stare and a silly smile tugging at his lips, almost drooling, Mei worriedly placed her slender hand on his forehead.

Did the punishment just now hurt Brother Genye's brain? Mei felt even more guilty.

"Ahem, I'm fine." Genye took Mei's little hand away and coughed awkwardly twice.

"Good. As long as you're okay, Brother Genye. Shall we go home together?"

"Sure."

They were both on the fringes of the clan, and their homes were in the same outlying area, not far from each other.

"Hyuga Mei! Hyuga Genye! Stop right there!"

As they passed through a narrow alley, an angry voice came from behind them.

At the sound, Genye and Mei turned around together.

Genye furrowed his brows at the strange fellow standing before them. "What do you want?"

The man blocking their way was Hyuga Takashi, a member of the Hyuga Branch Family a few years older than them.

Takashi's face twisted as he pointed at them and snarled, "We were reprimanded by the Clan Head because of you two!"

"You defied the Clan Head, and now you have to pay for it!"

Hyuga Takashi was a fanatic about clan hierarchy.

In his eyes, the Branch Family existed for the sake of the Main Family, so naturally they had to obey its every command. That was the whole point of their existence.

He was always proud of supporting the Main Family and earning its approval.

And just moments ago, Genye and Mei had dared to defy their superiors, causing all of them to be scolded by Yuansheng for showing no respect for rank!

Being berated like that by the Clan Head he revered was worse than death!

"The Clan Head already said he wouldn't hold it against us. Yet you, a fellow member of the Branch Family, won't let it go..."

As a young man from the twenty-first century, Genye couldn't understand Takashi's way of thinking.

After a moment's silence, he asked sincerely, "Are you... out of your mind?"

"You unrepentant bastard! How dare you spout such nonsense here!"

Takashi flew into a rage. He pushed off the ground with his toes and shot toward Genye like a cannonball.

"I'll teach you what it means to respect your elders!"

"..." Genye said nothing more. His expression instantly turned cold.

He shielded Mei behind him, then leaped into the air as well and swung a palm at the charging Takashi.

"Brother Genye!"

Mei clenched the hem of her clothes, her worry almost spilling over.

Takashi was already a Chunin. Brother Genye couldn't possibly be a match for him!

"Idiot! That's not how you use Gentle Fist!"

Seeing Genye charge straight at him without even activating his Byakugan, Takashi couldn't help but mock him.

Gentle Fist was a Taijutsu that infused the user's chakra into the enemy's body to damage their chakra pathways and internal organs.

It could only unleash its full power under the Byakugan's vision. Without it, it was useless!

"Oh, is that so?" Genye didn't waver. He silently said in his mind,

"Gentle Fist—Double!!!"