Earth-Attribute Chakra

"Ah... sorry, Dad."

Hyuga Seisen hurriedly set Hyuga Kaze down.

He searched nearby for two suitable branches, then tore off several strips of bandage.

Returning to Hyuga Kaze's side, he said, "Dad, I need to set them first. Bear with it."

"Otherwise, by the time we get back to the village, these hands of yours will be useless."

"Alright, do it!"

Hyuga Seisen nodded and formed hand seals, activating his Byakugan.

Under its X-ray vision, he saw that the forearms were not shattered fractures and breathed a sigh of relief.

Looking at the breaks, he carefully adjusted the positions of the forearms and upper arms.

Amid Hyuga Kaze's repeated cries of pain, he finally used bandages and branches to temporarily secure both of Hyuga Kaze's broken arms.

Afterward, he took out a water flask and soldier pills, feeding them to Hyuga Kaze.

He slumped down as well, took out several more soldier pills, and swallowed them with water.

Though that barrage of instant light arrows had not seemed very powerful, it had consumed a great deal of chakra.

The chakra in his body had long since been completely drained.

"You're pretty capable, kid!"

Hyuga Kaze looked up at the sky and suddenly spoke.

"The one chasing you was at least an experienced chunin, maybe even a special jonin."

"You actually killed him without a scratch and still came back to help your old man."

"He let his guard down." Hyuga Seisen replied, then continued, "You weren't bad either, Dad. That Big Earth was at least a jonin."

"If your leg hadn't been injured, you might have been able to kill him on your own."

Hyuga Kaze wore an expression as though it were only natural.

"As a member of the Hyuga Clan, isn't that how it should be?"

He was not modest in the slightest. "I haven't fought much in the years since I was injured, so I got rusty. That's why I suffered a loss as soon as we started fighting."

He suddenly straightened up and turned to Hyuga Seisen.

"Do you understand now why I've always insisted that you master the Gentle Fist?"

"With the Byakugan, the Gentle Fist gives you an advantage against combatants of every level except the Hokage."

"Even though you now have a method like Sacred Arrow, you can't neglect it."

"The Gentle Fist is an excellent complement to Sacred Arrow. No matter how long-ranged a ninjutsu is, there will always come a day when someone closes in on you."

Hyuga Kaze spoke earnestly.

Hyuga Seisen had disliked the Gentle Fist since childhood. Hyuga Kaze feared that after his son awakened a new bloodline limit, he would abandon the Gentle Fist entirely.

"Don't worry, Dad."

Seeing Hyuga Kaze ramble on, Hyuga Seisen smiled and reassured him.

"The Gentle Fist is also an indispensable part of my taijutsu system. I won't neglect it."

Taijutsu itself was an important part of the system Hyuga Seisen had designed, and the Gentle Fist had its own unique strengths.

Its weakness was that the later secret techniques were tightly controlled by the main house, leaving many branch family members neither here nor there.

But now that he had Stone Gate, he should have a chance of obtaining the later secret techniques if he was lucky.

He just had to figure out how to explain where those secret techniques had come from.

Seeing that his son had taken his words to heart, Hyuga Kaze nodded and slowly leaned back against the wooden wall.

Then he abruptly jolted upright again and looked at Hyuga Seisen.

"What is it now, Dad?"

"Where did you get Water Style ninjutsu?"

Hyuga Seisen did not answer. His eyes shifted evasively.

He truly did not know how to explain this to Hyuga Kaze.

He could not exactly say he had obtained it from Stone Gate.

That was his greatest secret.

Even with his father, he did not dare reveal it.

It was not that he did not trust him. Rather, once the secret was spoken, it could very likely bring great trouble.

The ninja world was a place where even the dead could not keep secrets.

Besides, there was no point in letting Hyuga Kaze know Stone Gate existed.

But how should he explain it to him?

"If you don't want to say it, I won't ask."

"Just don't show off your new bloodline limit and ninjutsu in front of the clan."

Hyuga Seisen froze, then asked in confusion, "Why?"

Hyuga Kaze shook his head. "I can't explain it. It's just a feeling."

"The clan has always promoted the idea that the Gentle Fist reigns supreme, rejecting every other school."

"But from my many years of experience, it isn't that the clan disdains learning them. It's that they don't want us to learn them."

"They don't want clan members developing systems beyond the Gentle Fist?"

This overturned Hyuga Seisen's previous understanding somewhat.

He had always thought the Hyuga Clan was arrogant and looked down on everyone else.

Because they possessed the Byakugan and the Gentle Fist, they had become set in their ways.

They believed there was no need to learn anything beyond the Gentle Fist because it was unnecessary.

But from what Hyuga Kaze had just said, there seemed to be more to it.

They did not want clan members to learn.

Given the main house's nature, that probably meant learning was forbidden.

In other words, it was an unspoken rule.

"Are they trying to further control the branch family through the Gentle Fist?"

Hyuga Kaze shook his head. "It's only my intuition. Because of the ideology that the Gentle Fist reigns supreme, I've never seen anyone in the clan learn ninjutsu."

"So my suspicion has never been confirmed."

Hyuga Seisen nodded.

If that was the case, he really would have to be careful.

Suddenly.

A string of words appeared on Stone Gate one after another.

[Upholding justice and helping the weak, you have received favor]

[Body Flicker Technique Experience *1]

[Body Flicker Technique has advanced to Proficient level]

[Energy Crystals *120]

Then all the words vanished, and new text appeared once more.

[Eliminating evil and protecting the innocent, you have received favor]

[Eight Trigrams Thirty-Two Palms Experience *1]

[Eight Trigrams Thirty-Two Palms has advanced to Skilled level]

[Energy Crystals *60]

This should have been the reward for getting rid of the bandits.

[Bravely capturing a spy and protecting national secrets, you have received favor]

[Earth-Attribute Chakra *1]

[Earth Style Chakra Nature Transformation (Skilled level) *1]

[Earth Style: Earth Pillar Explosion (Skilled level) *1]

[Shattered Rock Body Technique (Skilled level) *1]

[Energy Crystals *340]

"Shattered Rock Body Technique?"

Hyuga Seisen was extremely curious.

He carefully sensed the memories related to this taijutsu.

He discovered that it should have come from the ninja called Big Earth.

It was a school of taijutsu from the Land of Earth.

Unlike Konoha Style's light and agile taijutsu.

The Shattered Rock Body Technique was better suited for large, power-type ninja.

Its attacks emphasized overwhelming force and heavy blows.

It was not particularly suitable for him.

However, some of its methods for exerting force, as well as its physical training methods, could serve as useful references.

He simply did not have time to study it for now.

After a while, the two had recovered most of their strength, and some of their chakra had returned as well.

Hyuga Seisen stood up and, with his Byakugan activated, went through the various cellars in the stronghold.

Amid endless gratitude, he released all the imprisoned women inside.

He also distributed some of the loose banknotes they had seized in the cave among them.

Then he let them return home.

Afterward, he returned to the forest and stripped everything valuable from Mo Lin's body.

He had been focused on saving Hyuga Kaze earlier and had not had time to loot him.

He did not spare Big Earth, who was lying on the ground, either.

Once he had gathered everything, he set the entire stronghold ablaze.

Only then did he follow Hyuga Kaze as they slowly made their way toward Konoha Village.

Along the way, Hyuga Kaze wanted to take advantage of the time to teach Hyuga Seisen some practical knowledge about Trap Deployment, concealment, and tracking.