The So-Called Gentle Fist Style

"Hey!"

"Ha!"

Under the blazing sun lay an independent Training Ground that only the Hyūga Main Family could enter.

A small figure was diligently swinging her fists and legs, tempering her body.

From time to time, she let out spirited shouts.

Closer to the center of the Training Ground, one old and one young figure stood upright, facing each other.

Hyuga Hiashi watched Ryosuke expressionlessly. Ryosuke's eyes were tightly shut.

Ever since Hyuga Hiashi had roughly taught him the contents of the Gentle Fist Style, Ryosuke had stood there with his eyes closed, and no one knew what he was doing.

But Hyuga Hiashi did not think the child was being lazy. He knew very well that Ryosuke was no ordinary child and knew what he needed to do.

So he did not interrupt or question him. Instead, he activated his Byakugan and quietly waited, observing Ryosuke's body.

Still, he had been right. Ryosuke was certainly not slacking off.

At that moment, Ryosuke was carefully reviewing every word, every movement, every detail Hyuga Hiashi had just shown him, as well as the sensation of chakra entering the body, severing the Meridians, and sealing the Tenketsu.

His rebirth had given him more than just an experience bar in his mind. His memory and ability to think had likewise become far stronger than in his previous life.

His eyes remained shut, but as his thoughts gradually became clearer, Ryosuke's body began to move.

Seeing him start to move, Hyuga Hiashi took a step back to give him enough room, lest he disturb him.

The exact same movements, the exact same method of circulating chakra—when chakra gathered around his palms, Ryosuke perfectly replicated the movements Hyuga Hiashi had demonstrated.

Whoosh—

He struck out with one palm, and the powerful wind from the swing howled through the air.

The chakra attached to his palm shot forth as well, but without a target body to contain it, it quickly dissipated into the surroundings.

As he silently watched the scene before him, Hyuga Hiashi's eyes filled with shock.

As the head of the Hyūga Clan, he knew very well how difficult the Gentle Fist Style was to learn.

Throughout the Hyūga Clan's long history, whether Main Family or Branch Family, not a single clansman had ever been like Ryosuke, learning the Gentle Fist Style after seeing it only once.

Moreover, from his observations, Ryosuke's movements just now had been identical to the ones he had demonstrated.

This ability to replicate techniques was no weaker than that of the Uchiha Clan. At the very least, the Uchiha could not use the Sharingan to copy the Hyūga Clan's Gentle Fist Style.

Yet before the shock in Hyuga Hiashi's heart could settle, Ryosuke moved once more.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

Dull sonic booms continuously burst through the air.

With every palm strike, Ryosuke expertly coated his palm with chakra. He gradually developed his own style as well, rather than rigidly copying Hyuga Hiashi's fighting habits as he had before.

Unfortunately, because of his limited chakra reserves, he could only unleash Thirty-Two Palms from the Eight Trigrams Sixty-Four Palms technique.

When only the faintest trace of chakra remained, Ryosuke finally stopped and slowly opened his eyes.

His entire body had long since been soaked through by the sweat seeping from him during training, and even the dirt beneath his feet was damp.

Taking a deep breath to ease the organs racing within him from the intense exercise, Ryosuke smiled and looked toward Hyuga Hiashi, who had been rendered speechless. "So this is our Hyūga Clan's Gentle Fist Style? It really is difficult."

Suppressing the strange feeling in his heart, Hyuga Hiashi replied stiffly, "...It is only your first time using it. You have already done remarkably well."

"First time..."

Ryosuke nodded noncommittally. "Father, I need to refine some new chakra and rest for a while."

"Fine. Rest first. I'll go check on Hinata."

As though fleeing, Hyuga Hiashi tossed out those words and hurriedly turned to leave.

The instant he turned around, the expressionless mask he had forcibly maintained completely collapsed.

It really is difficult?

Those four words were all that remained in Hyuga Hiashi's mind. His son-in-law was even better at pretending than he had imagined.

How long had it taken him to learn the Gentle Fist Style back then? It seemed like... a week.

Watching Hyuga Hiashi's flustered movements as he turned away, Ryosuke found it amusing. He had long seen through the turmoil in Hyuga Hiashi's heart.

But he truly had not been modest. Although he had only tried using the Gentle Fist Style once in the real world, he had attempted it eleven times in his mental space, in his mind, before he fully memorized the entire sequence and replicated it perfectly.

Training in the Gentle Fist Style was not easy. During Hyuga Hiashi's test, Ryosuke had tried it once before.

At the time, he had only understood the principles of Gentle Fist. Unfortunately, when he actually used it, he knew very clearly that it was far from that simple.

Though he had no actual combat experience before, when Ryosuke tried to strike with that palm, he could clearly sense that the chakra contained in his palm had not entered Hyuga Hiashi's body.

The chakra within Hyuga Hiashi's body protected him while also repelling the invasion of Ryosuke's chakra.

The Gentle Fist Style was actually somewhat similar to the martial arts from the wuxia novels Ryosuke had read in his previous life.

It was also a combination of external and internal arts.

The so-called internal art was, naturally, chakra.

When using Gentle Fist, chakra needed to flow through the Meridians in a special pattern. As the gentle chakra circulated, it was endowed with powerful force and penetrating strength.

The external art referred to a special method of exerting force. It allowed Ryosuke to exert strength through every part of his body as he swung his palm, instantly unleashing the so-called Hidden Energy and better driving the aggressive chakra within him into his enemy's body.

One internal, one external, complementing each other—this was the true essence of the renowned Gentle Fist Style of the Ninja World.

And why had Ryosuke become so exhausted after using it only once?

It was entirely because controlling his body to perform what his mind had learned was no easy process. The mental drain throughout it had been immense, and so had the physical strain.

Every movement required powerful concentration to correct it and prevent deviations.

In the later stages, he also had to incorporate the sensations he experienced while using it, which was no easy task.

There was a saying: just because the mind says it has learned something does not mean the body knows how to do it.

But clearly, that did not apply to Ryosuke. It was simply exhausting.

That was why, in Hyuga Hiashi's eyes, Ryosuke had been able to fully perform the Gentle Fist Style after watching it only once, yet still said it was difficult.

Because... it truly was difficult.

"Clan Head."

At that moment, a voice sounded from outside the Training Ground.

Ryosuke, who had been sitting cross-legged and refining chakra to recover, opened his eyes and looked toward the entrance.

A man who resembled Hyuga Hiashi but was somewhat younger stood at the entrance with a child beside him, raising a hand in greeting toward Hyuga Hiashi.

The child beside him was curiously looking in Ryosuke's direction, seemingly very interested in his presence.