Neji's Birth

Even so, the research progressed painfully slowly. The theory had yet to be perfected, let alone put into practice. Setting aside Introduction to Medical Ninjutsu, Yuun let out a helpless sigh. Why could other transmigrators accomplish whatever they set out to do in days, or even hours, while he had spent months researching and had not even built a proper framework? When would he ever see results?

The one small consolation was that Hizashi's Gentle Fist seemed to have improved by another level. Even before the theory of Borrow Force, Return Force had been fully established, Hizashi had already incorporated it into his Gentle Fist. Meanwhile, Yuun, who had proposed the principle, was making slow progress.

In truth, this was perfectly normal. Hizashi was an expert who had practiced Gentle Fist for over a decade and possessed years of real combat experience. Gentle Fist had become one with him, so even when encountering something for the first time, he could quickly grasp and integrate it. By the standards of Yuun's previous life, he would have been close to a master, if not one outright. After all, those masters could not train martial arts every day, nor could they have several years of life-and-death combat experience. In the Naruto World, combat skills were always the most important thing for ninjas.

As for Yuun, he had practiced Gentle Fist for less than a year. Though his head was full of theories like "use speed against slowness," "stillness overcomes motion," and "only speed is unbreakable," he could not turn them to his own use. Forget merely having the framework of a theory—even if someone handed the current Yuun a complete set of techniques, from theory to practice and backed by extensive training experience, it would be like casting pearls before swine. Even his mastery of the Hyuga Clan's Gentle Fist was only so-so.

Of course, that did not mean Yuun was lacking. He was only six years old. At his current rate of progress, he would reach or even surpass Hizashi's level before he turned fifteen. He might not be able to keep up with Itachi's rate of improvement, but he certainly would not end up like Kakashi, who had nearly been unable to defeat Zabuza Momochi.

Several more months passed, yet the research still made little progress. Moreover, because they had been moving around rather frequently lately, it seemed someone in the clan had noticed something. Yuun and Hizashi had no choice but to reduce the time they spent going separately to the library and hospital. Their already sluggish research progress came to a complete halt. After Yuun had brought his Gentle Fist to a certain standard, he found it difficult to improve any further. According to Hizashi, his physical growth could not yet keep up with the progress of his Gentle Fist. Once he grew a little older, his Gentle Fist could continue improving.

It was not as though there was no good news. Yuun's little junior disciple, Hyuga Neji—one of Konoha's future twelve rising stars—was finally born. There were no countless rays of light illuminating the heavens, no red glow filling the room, nor any strange fragrance in the air. A baby was simply born, perfectly normally. Yuun even leaned in for a look. The tiny child's face was scrunched up in a wrinkled ball, and the moment Yuun held him, he began crying loudly, leaving Yuun completely flustered.

Now that Neji had been born, could Naruto Uzumaki's birth be far off? Yuun would never forget what would happen on the night Naruto was born. Even so, at only six years old, there was nothing he could do. The only thing he could do was pray that Obito did not release the Nine-Tails anywhere near the Hyuga Clan. No matter how hard Yuun tried to remember, he could not recall exactly where the Nine-Tails had appeared. Still, since Neji managed to grow up safely, the Hyuga Clan should have been quite far from where it appeared. After all, Neji had only been one year old then. If he had encountered the Nine-Tails, it would have meant certain death.

Since it would be difficult to improve his attainments in Gentle Fist in the short term, Yuun added tree climbing and water walking training to his schedule. Hizashi did not say much about it, only reminding Yuun not to overexert himself.

Why had tree climbing and water walking, such effective methods for improving chakra control, not been made standard at the Ninja Academy? The reason was simple: the students' chakra reserves and chakra control were simply too limited. The most basic requirement for completing this training was sufficient chakra. Chakra control, on the other hand, could be cultivated gradually. Mental energy determined one's initial chakra control, but even uninhibited ninjas like Naruto could raise their control to a certain level through training.

Of course, that did not mean mental energy was unimportant. It not only determined one's initial chakra control, but also its upper limit. That limit was nearly impossible to break through. Unless one raised their mental energy, trying to surpass it was nothing more than a dream. For example, even though Naruto could later fight Madara Uchiha, asking him to cast a Genjutsu would still be impossible. Then there was Rock Lee. He had been born with extremely low mental energy. No matter how resolute his will, it was useless. If his chakra control could not improve, he could only ever be a taijutsu ninja.

For Genin with sufficient chakra reserves, improving chakra control was simply the natural next step. Yuun had not yet become a Genin, but his chakra reserves were no less than those of an ordinary Genin. With plenty of chakra to squander and mental energy that was already fairly strong, he completed his tree climbing training by himself that very night, leaving only water walking for the next day.

Water walking training was considerably harder than tree climbing, since the medium chakra acted upon changed from solid to liquid. Fortunately, Yuun had long been mentally prepared. With a good mindset and excellent natural conditions, he completed his water walking training in just two days and could walk and run freely across the water.

Had it been a time of peace, Yuun would already have been hailed as a genius. But in an era of war, his performance was merely excellent. After all, there was Kakashi ahead of him, who had graduated at five and become a Chunin at six.

What Yuun did not know was that when he completed his water walking training, Kakashi, having just turned twelve, officially became a Jonin, shocking all of Konoha. From then on, life became difficult for Yuun's generation. Fortunately, there were still people of Kakashi's generation above them to bear the pressure, so they were not the worst off.

Since Kakashi was already a Jonin, Obito would die before long, Yuun thought indifferently.

Since transmigrating here, Yuun had only seen Obito Uchiha twice. Once had been at a small shop, and the other time had been when he spotted him from afar at school. Yuun honestly did not know how to evaluate Obito. That inability to evaluate him was built upon the immense resentment Yuun felt toward him.

For the death of a woman who did not even love him, he had not hesitated to kill his own teacher and teacher's wife. He had not even spared his newborn junior disciple, and he had even destroyed the clan that had raised him. What made Yuun feel most exasperated was that the people Obito hurt had not the slightest connection to that woman's death...

If Yuun had to sum up Obito Uchiha in one sentence, it would be that he was an idiot afflicted with adolescent syndrome—truly beyond saving. And this kind of idiot was later redeemed. That was why Yuun had stopped following Naruto, leaving him to agonize over Madara Uchiha's Infinite Tsukuyomi all day.

Though he could not imagine or understand why the Fourth Hokage, upon seeing the man who had murdered his wife and himself, Naruto, upon seeing the man who had murdered his parents, and those idiots who constantly claimed their relatives had died at the hands of the Nine-Tails would not take revenge when their enemy stood before them, life still had to go on.

Yuun continued steadily improving his strength. If something like Obito wanted to die, then it could go die. A scum who could lay hands on a great beauty like Kushina Uzumaki deserved to die.