End

Palm strikes rained down upon the Uchiha Jonin.

Why was the Hyuga Clan's close-quarters combat called the strongest? Because the Gentle Fist Style and the Byakugan allowed them to disrupt the flow of chakra within an enemy's body, even stimulating Tenketsu to inflict all manner of negative effects.

In close-range combat, in a purely taijutsu duel, even a slight lapse in movement—or numbness—could have an enormous impact on victory or defeat.

At first, the Uchiha Jonin could still block Ryosuke's attacks and prevent him from cutting off the chakra flow in his body.

But before long, the aftereffects of their earlier high-intensity battle began to show. His stamina and chakra reserves were running low.

Mentally, waves of exhaustion and weakness washed over him again and again.

The moment a trace of surrender arose in his heart, Ryosuke's palm, wrapped in Gentle Fist chakra, struck his Tenketsu. The high-intensity battle that had lasted nearly half an hour finally came to an end...

Thick smoke curled through the dense forest.

Beside Ryosuke lay the Uchiha Jonin, unable to rise.

"You weren't resolute enough."

Looking at the Uchiha Jonin before him, who could no longer move and was gradually losing all signs of life, he shook his head. "If you truly wanted to fight to the death, then even if your body had not a trace of chakra left and all four limbs were broken, you should still bite off a piece of your enemy's flesh with your teeth, shouldn't you?"

Ryosuke felt somewhat regretful as he said this.

Perhaps... he should have acted sooner.

He should have let this Uchiha Jonin retain a little more chakra and stamina, so he could have accompanied him in a more direct test of strength.

"Ryosuke-sama, his death has been confirmed."

Souji cautiously inspected the Uchiha Jonin. Only after confirming with his Byakugan that there were no signs of life did he respectfully report.

His attitude was far more intense than usual, carrying a measure of reverence.

"Finish cleaning up."

Wearily deactivating his Byakugan, Ryosuke rubbed his eyes. "Remember to use the scrolls we bought earlier in Kyoto City to store these three Uchiha corpses. Also... do not damage their bodies in any way."

"Understood."

Souji and Seisai obediently nodded, then vanished in a Body Flicker to deal with the fire spreading through the forest and collect the other two Uchiha bodies.

As he rested and recovered the chakra spent in the battle, Ryosuke reviewed and sorted through the fight in his mind.

Were Jonin strong?

Of course. How many Jonin could a village have in total?

The fact that a Jonin had appeared during this Uchiha attack had already exceeded Ryosuke's expectations.

Still, it had only surprised him somewhat.

He had planned this battle himself. From the start, he had considered every possibility, including the appearance of a Jonin and the possibility that an Uchiha with Three Tomoe might emerge.

Battle seemed like a complicated matter.

But in truth, it came down to one sentence: strengthen your advantages and compensate for your disadvantages.

In this battle, Ryosuke's group possessed one overwhelming advantage—they knew in advance that the Uchiha might launch a surprise attack. That had transformed them from prey in the open into hunters in the shadows.

Their disadvantages were numbers, overall strength, and Ryosuke himself, the deadweight.

Yet over the more than twenty minutes of fighting, Ryosuke had gradually made up for those disadvantages, even turning them into advantages.

In terms of numbers, although both sides had three people, if calculated by amusement park ticket prices, their side should have counted as two and a half people, with one of them being a child.

Obviously, Ryosuke's strength had been relatively lacking in this battle.

If he faced a Chunin in peak condition head-on, he could not guarantee victory.

The battle just now had also shown that even against a barely hanging-on Jonin with almost no chakra left, he still needed to put in considerable effort.

The Rotation, said to be an absolute defense, was still not practiced enough in his hands and did not deserve such a title.

As for the Eight Trigrams Sixty-Four Palms, most of its strikes had been blocked. If not for the Jonin's stamina and chakra having been nearly exhausted, Ryosuke would have had almost no chance to hit him and end the battle.

Therefore, at the very start of the battle, Ryosuke had directly joined forces with the other two to ambush the weakest Uchiha.

By ensuring their chance of success, they reduced their disadvantage in numbers and overall strength.

Souji Hyuga and Seisai Hyuga were the helpers Hyuga Hiashi had assigned to him.

Given how much Hyuga Hiashi valued him, these two helpers naturally would not be weak.

Although they had always served as guards and nannies in the village, both of them were ninjas who had participated in the later stages of the Third Shinobi World War—experienced Chunin who had truly been on the battlefield.

Once one Uchiha had been dealt with, their numbers and overall strength changed.

Originally, the Uchiha side was 1 + 1 + 2 = 4.

Their side was 1 + 1 + 0.5 = 2.5.

But once the Uchiha lost one person, the gap was reduced to a disadvantage of only 0.5.

Finally, when Ryosuke shifted from the open back into the shadows, his 0.5 became 1.5. Not only had he become an unexpected force, but he also possessed the Byakugan, something the Uchiha knew nothing about.

In an instant, the battle situation became clear.

"The only regret is that this was still... a battle between ninjas."

Although planning and calculations were important factors in battle, Ryosuke did not like this feeling.

Knowing the story well, he understood just how dangerous the future Ninja World would become.

By then, true strength would determine victory and defeat in most battles. Fights that gained advantages through strategy would be comparatively rare.

By then, many battles would already surpass the bounds of ninjas. They could be called... battles between gods.

Before true power, many schemes would only be crushed like ants.

Still, this battle had not been without gains.

After all, one had to take things one step at a time.

After resting and recovering some stamina and chakra, Ryosuke rose to his feet again.

When a smile returned to his face, something within him had changed.

His hands had already been stained with blood. He was no longer that... insignificant ninja from before.

Becoming a qualified ninja was his immediate goal. As for those earth-shattering battles in the future, he believed he would have the ability to take part when the time came, because...

"You should understand what you need to do about these eyes, right?"

Looking at Souji and Seisai, who had hurried back after finishing the cleanup, Ryosuke smiled. "Do not reveal it to anyone, including your families."

"Yes."

They responded in unison. The only thing in Souji and Seisai's eyes as they looked at Ryosuke was submission.