Transforming into "Wolverine"

Chiye Jun had not moved when a pale-eyed boy stepped forward.

He was a descendant of the Hyuga clan, a member of a branch family, but his status within the clan was far from prominent—several ranks below even Neji Hyuga.

With so many branches in a great clan, one or two scum were bound to emerge.

"Hey, you lowlife from the Maiko family! Did you hear me? Get lost already!"

Relying on his status as a member of a great clan, the boy was arrogant and foul-mouthed.

Even a clay Buddha had a bit of temper.

After being insulted again and again, Chiye Jun's face turned frosty.

"Does the forest belong to your family? Who the hell do you think you are?"

The pale-eyed boy stopped in his tracks.

"He... what did he just call me?"

The boy looked at his companions, his face full of fury and disbelief.

"I said you're nothing but an egg," Chiye Jun said with a cold sneer curling his lips.

One companion stepped forward and barked, "You, get over here and kneel down to apologize, or we'll kill you today!"

Another said:

"You dog! The Hyuga clan may not rule Konoha with one hand, but crushing trash like you would be effortless!"

The pale-eyed boy pulled out a kunai. Its cold gleam flashed as he struck an arrogant pose.

"You've offended me. I'll make sure you can't take a single step in the future unless you kowtow and apologize right now!"

"Oh."

Chiye Jun looked at the boy with clear, untainted eyes.

"I forge iron every day and rarely interact with the outside world, so I really don't know what makes the Hyuga clan so impressive. How about you show me?"

The pale-eyed boy laughed.

"Are you really trying to go against me?"

His expression was filled with nothing but ridicule and mockery.

However!

The next moment.

Chiye Jun did something utterly audacious.

Smack! Smack! Smack!

He stepped forward, gathered chakra at his fingertips, and slapped the other boy across the face three times!

The blows were heavy and loud...

After the slaps landed.

The pale-eyed boy covered his swollen red cheek, dumbstruck.

"You... you dared to hit me?!"

Chiye Jun revealed a harmless smile, his teeth white and his expression gentle as a spring breeze.

Yet his words were utterly bold!

"Forget a nobody like you—even if Hiashi Hyuga himself came, I wouldn't be afraid!"

His companions were stunned by Chiye Jun's imposing manner.

Was this still that useless fool who couldn't squeeze out a word even after three beatings?

He usually avoided them whenever he saw them. Had he eaten a bear's heart and leopard's gall today?

But when they remembered that he had no background, they immediately began shouting again:

"What a fool who doesn't know death is coming! We have to teach you a proper lesson today!"

"You're courting death!"

With a roar, the pale-eyed boy threw a punch.

But before his fist could even reach Chiye Jun, it was tightly seized!

"Heh, the Hyuga clan is nothing special after all."

After saying that, Chiye Jun gave a forceful shove.

Boom!

The pale-eyed boy was sent flying and crashed into a tree trunk ahead.

"Since when did this guy know taijutsu?"

"Yeah, it looked like he even used chakra!"

"How is he so strong?"

Shock appeared on his companions' faces.

After being thrown away, the pale-eyed boy got up awkwardly, dusted off his hands, and approached again.

"Heh, I underestimated you. I didn't expect you to have some strength. Forging iron really does train the body. Lowly trash, it looks like I really have to use my ultimate move today!"

Chiye Jun made up his mind as well. He had to teach this arrogant bastard a brutal lesson.

As far as he was concerned, hiding one's strength or playing the pig to eat the tiger was all bullshit.

"If a dog bites someone, the person kills the dog!"

That was the principle he lived by.

In his previous life, he often said:

"I never hold grudges, because whenever I have one, I settle it on the spot!"

Two masses of pale-blue chakra surged around the pale-eyed boy's palms.

Then he shot forward like an arrow released from its bow.

"Fake Eight Trigrams Palm!" (He was not qualified to learn the real Eight Trigrams Palm yet.)

With a furious shout, a violent gust blasted toward Chiye Jun.

The palm wind was fairly fierce!

But just then!

Something happened that the other boy never expected.

"Dead Bone Pulse: Dance of the Larch!"

Chiye Jun shouted, then felt something trying to break through his flesh.

Suddenly!

White bones burst from his back, chest, and shoulders.

The bones extended into spikes.

There were eleven in total!

Under the blazing sun, they gave off a deathly white, razor-sharp gleam.

Looking at himself, Chiye Jun chuckled.

"I look so damn much like Wolverine!"

The sudden sight caught the pale-eyed boy completely off guard.

How could a perfectly normal person suddenly sprout so many bones?

Pfft!

The sound of flesh being pierced rang out.

The boy's palm was immediately impaled, and a burst of blood sprayed forth!

His face went pale with fright. Clutching his hand, he hurriedly staggered back.

The bone spikes were incredibly sharp. Even a light touch could pierce skin; if he struck them with force, he would probably be skewered straight through the heart!

"I'm not done yet!"

"Dead Bone Pulse: Dance of the Camellia!"

As soon as the words fell, cracking sounds came from Chiye Jun's arm.

In an instant!

A white bone protruded sharply from his shoulder!

Chiye Jun reached out, grabbed the bone, and yanked hard!

Before their eyes.

An entire white arm bone transformed into a bone sword in his hand, its tip pointed directly at the boy.

Meanwhile, the hole from which the bone had been pulled slowly healed.

The bone sword shot out and instantly slashed across the boy's handsome face, leaving a horrifying bloody gash.

The boy stood still, as if scared senseless.

What kind of bizarre technique was this...

It was fucking terrifying.

The little blacksmith before him no longer had his usual cowardly demeanor.

He was like a demon from hell.

His companions fled in panic.

"Remember this: in my eyes, you're the lowlife."

After saying that, Chiye Jun grabbed the other boy by the collar, gathered chakra in his palm, and viciously hurled him away.

Boom!

The boy hit the ground.

With just two moves, Dead Bone Pulse had utterly crushed the pale-eyed boy. There was no challenge at all.

Just as Chiye Jun was about to leave, a gust from a palm strike suddenly came at him from behind!

By instinct, Chiye Jun gathered chakra, and a faint blue glow spread across his body.

Then white bones appeared once more.

Only this time, they formed interconnected layers.

In just a few seconds, Chiye Jun's entire body was wrapped in White Bone Armor. Even his face was covered by bone.

Only two holes were left for his eyes, emitting an eerie red glow.

The pale-eyed boy's incoming fist struck the bones and was immediately rebounded.

Several kunai also fell to the ground.

The boy's chest jolted violently as a chill ran through him, and he spat out a mouthful of blood.

His fist had become a bloody mess.

Earlier, when he saw Chiye Jun about to leave, rage had rushed to his head. He wanted only to kill the person who had subjected him to such unbearable humiliation today.

That was why he had pulled kunai from his ninja pouch and hurled them at Chiye Jun's back.

At the same time, he had leaped forward and used taijutsu once again.

Looking at Chiye Jun, now covered head to toe in white bones.

The boy was truly scared pissless this time.

"Tell me your name," Chiye Jun asked with a smile.

"Hyuga... Hyuga Mon..." (The two would meet again when Chiye Jun later rescued Koyuki Kazahana...)

Although Chiye Jun had controlled his chakra output, those two attacks alone were enough to leave him bedridden for a month.

With a pale face, the boy staggered to his feet and stumbled out of the forest, leaving drops of blood behind him...

Only then did the bone armor on Chiye Jun's body retract.

He sat on the ground, thoroughly puzzled.

"Those weren't the rewarded Dance of the Camellia and Dance of the Larch just now! Could it be a ninjutsu I created on the spot in an emergency?"

Afterward, he tried to use the bone armor technique again, but failed.

"Looks like it really was a protective ninjutsu automatically created under a stress response. I'll call it White Bone Armor for now. It's fucking amazing!"

At the same time, several dark figures on a distant tree vanished with a whoosh...