Two Things (Seeking Collections, Recommendations, and Follow-ups)

"Father."

Footsteps sounded from the house behind them, and Hyuga Hiashi, his face stern and rigid, walked into the courtyard.

Beside him was little Hinata, timid and submissive, her head lowered the whole time.

"I heard from Hinata... that you had something to discuss with me?"

Hyuga Hiashi looked expressionlessly at Ryosuke standing in the courtyard, though his gaze carried a faint hint of approval.

He was extremely satisfied with this son-in-law.

Whether it was his temperament and character or his talent as a ninja, the boy made him rather proud. Of course, the most important reason he had set aside the clan's old rules was because the boy's bloodline had undergone Ancestral Regression.

"Yes, Father. There are mainly two matters."

Looking gently at his stern father-in-law, Hyuga Ryosuke spoke casually. "The first is that I've more or less finished learning about the human body's meridians and various acupoints. My physical condition has also reached the standard required to practice Gentle Fist."

"Oh?"

Hyuga Hiashi was somewhat surprised.

But beyond that surprise, he did not question or inquire further.

He took several steps forward and stopped in front of Ryosuke. "I'll personally test you now. Attack me with everything you have. Any method is fine—as long as you can demonstrate that you have the foundation needed to learn Gentle Fist, you'll pass."

Even if ordinary people were born into prominent clans and possessed methods for refining Chakra, they would still be unable to successfully extract Chakra if their bodies and minds had not reached the required standard.

For example, children of the Hyuga Clan generally only began coming into contact with Chakra at the age of six. After spending a year cultivating and extracting Chakra, they would begin learning Gentle Fist, because by then their physical condition had more or less been properly honed.

The Ninja Academy generally recruited children around that age as well.

Even particularly gifted individuals, such as his younger brother Hizashi Hyuga's son Neji Hyuga, or that Itachi Uchiha from the Uchiha Clan, had only begun learning how to become ninja at the age of five.

But Hyuga Ryosuke was different. Though he was only four years old, he was the only genius in the Hyuga Clan's long history whose bloodline had undergone Ancestral Regression. And geniuses could not be judged by common sense.

Facing Hyuga Hiashi, who intended to test him, Ryosuke clasped his hands behind his back and hesitated before asking, "Can I really attack however I want, Father?"

"Of cour—"

Hyuga Hiashi nodded, just about to tell him to attack with all his strength and not mind his status.

But before he could finish, Ryosuke suddenly vanished from before his eyes.

At the instant Hyuga Hiashi was distracted by answering, the muscles in Ryosuke's legs had already exploded with force. The next second, he appeared right in front of Hyuga Hiashi.

Whoosh—

The gale stirred up by his high-speed movement howled through the air as he struck out with a palm infused with Chakra.

His small stature worked perfectly in his favor, allowing the palm strike to land squarely on Hyuga Hiashi's abdomen.

From beginning to end, the smiling expression on Hyuga Ryosuke's face never changed.

A frontal attack...

Though he had used words to distract him before launching a sneak attack, Hyuga Hiashi was still the clan head and had once been the genius of his generation.

The moment Ryosuke exerted force, he had already calculated where the boy would strike. Still, seeing such an open and direct palm attack left him slightly disappointed.

Though it was understandable. He was still just a child wet behind the ears.

But in the next instant, Hyuga Hiashi's expression changed slightly.

When he raised the palm he had prepared to block with and made contact with Ryosuke's hand, he felt no solid physical contact at all. This was... a clone!

Not good!

Though countless thoughts flashed through his mind, the exchange had taken no more than the blink of an eye.

Before Hyuga Hiashi could turn around, a sharp burst of pain shot through the Taizhui Point on his back.

Bang!

A dull impact sounded from his body.

Then, a massive force from behind sent him flying like a cannonball. He passed through the afterimage of Hyuga Ryosuke's clone and slammed straight into a tree in the courtyard.

Boom!

The tree snapped from the impact and crashed to the ground with a thunderous roar, dust scattering through the courtyard like fog.

At the spot where Hyuga Hiashi had originally stood, Ryosuke withdrew his palm with a gentle smile on his face.

Those enviable Byakugan had already been activated at some unknown moment.

"Father!"

The scene that had unfolded in the blink of an eye left Hinata, who had been watching from the side, utterly dazed. After a while, she finally cried out anxiously.

But just as she was about to run over, Ryosuke stopped her.

"Don't worry. I know my limits."

He remained where he was, his Byakugan sweeping through the dust as he clearly saw Hyuga Hiashi rise to his feet within, completely unharmed.

"Know your limits? I don't think you held back at all just now, boy."

There was not the slightest anger in the voice that came from the dust. Instead, it carried a hint of delight.

Hyuga Hiashi slowly emerged from the dust with his hands behind his back, his gaze full of approval. "You took advantage of the fact that I didn't know you had already mastered the Clone Technique to set a trap for me? Very good combat awareness."

"Knowing my limits doesn't mean I'll hold back." Ryosuke replied softly. "I didn't think you'd be knocked down by that palm strike, after all. You are the head of the Hyuga Clan."

As he spoke, he used his Byakugan to scan Hiashi's physical condition.

Hyuga Hiashi's pure white robe had long been stained by the earlier impact, but through his Byakugan, Ryosuke could clearly tell that his body had not been affected by that palm strike in the slightest.

A manga was still just a manga. There was a gap between it and reality.

Ryosuke was somewhat surprised. The people of this world possessed far greater physical abilities than he had imagined.

That palm strike could have easily knocked a sturdy adult to the ground in his previous life, but in this world, even against someone with no guard up, it had failed to achieve the expected result.

"Though it may be rather impolite, your performance has indeed satisfied me. At the very least, you now resemble a ninja when it comes to combat."

Hearing Ryosuke's seemingly casual flattery, Hyuga Hiashi's stern face rarely pulled into a stiff smile. He was clearly pleased. "Your physical condition has indeed reached the standard required to practice the Gentle Fist. However, the Gentle Fist... is far more than simply coating your palms in Chakra and striking Tenketsu."

"Starting tomorrow, I will personally teach you every technique of our Hyuga Clan, including the Secret Techniques that only the main family may learn."

His movements had been swift and powerful, and he even seemed to have secretly learned some Gentle Fist techniques. But a child was still a child. No matter how gifted he was, he was still a child whose body had not fully developed.

When it came to being a ninja, he had only just begun.

"I will study diligently."

Hyuga Ryosuke nodded earnestly. "Then next... comes the second matter for which I asked you to come."

After a pause, the gentle smile that had remained on his face all along faded slightly, and his voice unconsciously lowered. "You should know... that my eyes differ from those of the other members of the Hyuga Clan, including yours, right?"

The moment those words left his mouth, the stiff smile on Hyuga Hiashi's face faded as well. He raised a hand to signal Ryosuke not to speak further, instantly activating his Byakugan and scanning the surroundings to confirm that no one was nearby.

"You can rest assured. I already checked this area earlier. Aside from you and Hinata, there is no third person here." Hyuga Ryosuke motioned for him to relax. "Neither in the sky nor... underground are there any traces of Sensory Ninjutsu nearby."

But even after he said that, Hyuga Hiashi carefully inspected the area once more before turning his attention back to him. "There is nothing wrong with being careful."

Hyuga Ryosuke's Byakugan differed from those of the Hyuga Clan. Hiashi knew that very well.

Perhaps because his bloodline had undergone Ancestral Regression, both his Byakugan and his physical abilities were stronger than theirs.

The Hyuga Clan's long history had some missing records in the middle, but overall, it remained relatively complete.

The changes that had appeared in Hyuga Ryosuke made him look remarkably similar to the clan's earliest ancestor recorded in the main family's history.

Whether in physical appearance or... abilities.

His existence was the Hyuga Clan's greatest secret. Only the Hyuga main family knew the history of the Hyuga.

Thus, only he, the clan head, and the Hyuga Clan's Great Elder knew of this matter. He would become an important opportunity for the clan's rise.

To the outside world, Hyuga Ryosuke was merely a talented child chosen to become Hinata's husband. After all, only a genius who survived and could grow up could be considered a true genius.

The Hyuga Clan was unlike those arrogant, conceited members of the Uchiha Clan. They would not publicize the emergence of a genius everywhere. Their caution was the reason their clan had become Konoha's second-largest by population, surpassed only by the Sarutobi Clan.

Ryosuke looked at his future father-in-law with amusement, feeling rather emotional. He had truly been lucky to be reborn into the Hyuga Clan. This clan's way of doing things was quite similar to his own.

Had he been born into the Uchiha Clan, he absolutely would not have revealed his abilities. Otherwise, he might very well have been placed over a fire and roasted.

Konoha was no simple place.

"The second matter I called you here for is that I heard Kumogakure's envoys recently arrived in Konoha?"