Earth-Attribute Chakra

"Ah... sorry, Dad."

Hyuga Qingchuan hurriedly set Hyuga Kaze down.

He searched the surrounding area for two suitable branches, then tore off several strips of bandage.

Returning to Hyuga Kaze's side, he said, "Dad, I need to set them first. Bear with it."

"Otherwise, by the time we get back to the village, these hands of yours will be useless."

"Alright, do it!"

Hyuga Qingchuan nodded and formed a hand seal, activating his Byakugan.

Under its X-ray-like vision, he saw that the forearms were not shattered fractures and breathed a sigh of relief.

He looked at the breaks and carefully adjusted the positions of the forearms and upper arms.

Amid Hyuga Kaze's repeated howls of pain, he finally used bandages and branches to temporarily secure both of Hyuga Kaze's broken arms.

Afterward, he took out his water flask and Military Ration Pills, feeding them to Hyuga Kaze.

He also slumped down, took out several more Military Ration Pills, and swallowed them with water.

Though the rapid-fire light arrows did not seem particularly powerful, they still consumed a great deal of chakra.

The chakra in his body had long since been completely depleted.

"You're pretty impressive, kid!"

Hyuga Kaze looked up at the sky and suddenly spoke.

"The one chasing you was at least a Senior Chunin. He might even have been a Special Jonin."

"You actually killed him without a scratch and still came back to help your dad."

"He let his guard down," Hyuga Qingchuan replied, then continued, "You weren't bad either, Dad. That Da Tu was at least a Jonin."

"If your leg hadn't been injured, you might have been able to kill him by yourself."

Hyuga Kaze looked as though it were only natural.

"As a member of the Hyuga Clan, isn't that how it should be?"

He was not modest in the slightest. "I've made fewer moves these past few years because of my injury, so I got rusty. That's why I took a loss right at the start."

He suddenly straightened up and turned to Hyuga Qingchuan.

"Do you understand now why I've always insisted that you train your Gentle Fist properly?"

"With the Byakugan, Gentle Fist gives you an advantage against every level of combat power aside from Hokage."

"Even with a technique like Holy Arrow now, you can't neglect it."

"Gentle Fist is an excellent supplement to Holy Arrow. No matter how long-ranged a ninjutsu is, there will always come a day when someone gets close."

Hyuga Kaze spoke earnestly and at length.

Hyuga Qingchuan had never liked Gentle Fist since he was young. Hyuga Kaze feared that after his son awakened a new Bloodline Limit, he would abandon Gentle Fist entirely.

"Don't worry, Dad."

Seeing Hyuga Kaze nagging on and on, Hyuga Qingchuan smiled and reassured him.

"Gentle Fist is also an indispensable part of my taijutsu system. I won't neglect it."

Taijutsu itself was an important part of the system Hyuga Qingchuan had designed, and Gentle Fist had its own unique strengths.

Its weakness was that the later secret techniques were tightly controlled by the Main House, leaving many members of the Branch House neither here nor there.

But now that he had the Stone Gate, he might have a chance to obtain those later secret techniques if he was lucky.

He only needed to figure out how to explain where those secret techniques had come from.

Seeing that his son had taken his words to heart, Hyuga Kaze nodded and slowly leaned back against the wooden wall.

Then he suddenly jolted upright again and looked at Hyuga Qingchuan.

"What is it now, Dad?"

"Where did you get Water Release ninjutsu?"

Hyuga Qingchuan did not answer. His gaze darted away.

He truly did not know how to explain this matter to Hyuga Kaze.

He could not exactly say that he had gotten it from the Stone Gate.

That was his greatest secret.

Even if it was his father, he did not dare tell him.

It was not because he did not trust him. Once he spoke of it, though, it could very likely bring great trouble.

The Shinobi World was a place where not even the dead could keep secrets.

Besides, there was no point in letting Hyuga Kaze know of the Stone Gate's existence.

But how should he explain it to him?

"If you don't want to say it, Dad won't ask."

"Just don't display your new Bloodline Limit and ninjutsu in front of the clan."

Hyuga Qingchuan froze, then asked in confusion, "Why?"

Hyuga Kaze shook his head. "I can't explain it. It's just a feeling."

"The clan has always promoted the idea that Gentle Fist is supreme, rejecting every other style."

"But from what I've sensed over the years, it isn't that the clan disdains learning them. It doesn't want us to learn them."

"They don't want clan members developing systems outside Gentle Fist?"

That overturned Hyuga Qingchuan's original understanding somewhat.

He had always thought the Hyuga Clan was arrogant and looked down on everyone else.

Because they possessed the Byakugan and Gentle Fist, they had become complacent and closed-minded.

They believed there was no need to learn anything other than Gentle Fist, because there simply was no need.

But from what Hyuga Kaze had just said, there seemed to be something more behind it.

They did not want clan members learning.

Given the Main House's usual behavior, that probably meant it was forbidden to learn.

Put plainly, it was an unspoken rule.

Were they trying to further control the Branch House through Gentle Fist?

Hyuga Kaze shook his head. "That's only my intuition. Because of the idea that Gentle Fist is supreme, I've never seen anyone in the clan learn ninjutsu."

"So my thoughts have not been proven."

Hyuga Qingchuan nodded.

If that was the case, he really needed to be more careful.

Suddenly.

A string of words appeared one after another on the Stone Gate.

[Upholding justice and helping the weak, you have gained favor]

[Body Flicker Technique Experience*1]

[Body Flicker Technique upgraded to Mastery level]

[Energy Crystals*120]

[Eliminating evil and protecting the people, you have gained favor]

[Eight Trigrams Thirty-Two Palms Experience*1]

[Eight Trigrams Thirty-Two Palms upgraded to Proficient level]

[Energy Crystals*60]

Then all the words vanished, and new words appeared once more.

[Capturing a spy and protecting national secrets, you have gained favor]

[Earth-Attribute Chakra*1]

[Earth Release Chakra Nature Transformation (Proficient level)*1]

[Earth Release: Earth Pillar Blast (Proficient level)*1]

[Shattering Rock Body Technique (Proficient level)*1]

[Energy Crystals*340]

"Shattering Rock Body Technique?"

Hyuga Qingchuan was very curious.

He carefully sensed the memories related to this taijutsu.

He discovered that it had likely come from the ninja called Da Tu.

It was a taijutsu school from the Land of Earth.

Unlike Konoha Style's light and agile taijutsu.

Shattering Rock Body Technique was more suited to large, powerful ninjas.

Its attacks focused on overwhelming force and heavy blows.

It was not particularly suitable for him.

However, some of its principles for exerting force, as well as its methods for physical training, could serve as useful references.

He simply did not have time to study it for now.

A short while later, the two had recovered most of their strength, and some of their chakra had returned as well.

Hyuga Qingchuan stood up and searched every cellar in the stronghold with his Byakugan activated.

Amid waves of tearful gratitude, he released all the women imprisoned inside.

He also distributed some of the loose paper currency seized from the cave among them.

Then he told them to return home.

Afterward, he returned to the forest and stripped everything valuable from Mo Lin.

He had been focused on saving Hyuga Kaze earlier and had not had time to loot him.

He did not spare Da Tu, who was lying on the ground, either.

Once he had collected everything, he set the entire stronghold ablaze.

Only then did he slowly head toward Konoha Village with Hyuga Kaze.

Along the way, Hyuga Kaze wanted to take advantage of the time.

He taught Hyuga Qingchuan some basics of Trap Placement, concealment, and tracking on the spot.