Gentle Fist Technique: Eight Trigrams Palm

The small courtyard was secluded, its walls thick and high.

The covered walkways were small and elegant, while artificial hills and lake rocks were arranged according to specific positions. At the center lay an open courtyard paved with bluestone, which Neji used as a training ground for the Gentle Fist.

Neji settled into his stance, feet spread shoulder-width apart and toes slightly turned inward, forming the basic posture of the Eight Trigrams Steps. He began moving according to the positions of the Eight Trigrams Diagram, each step landing precisely on one of its eight directions—Qian, Kun, Zhen, Xun, Kan, Li, Gen, and Dui.

His footwork was nimble and ever-changing, advancing one moment, retreating the next, shifting left and right as though he were weaving through an Eight Trigrams Diagram. Every step carried a distinct rhythm, light yet steady, as if he had become one with the earth.

At a certain moment, he suddenly stepped into the Qian position. His left foot moved forward, his right foot swiftly followed, and his body leaned slightly ahead.

His right palm shot forward, palm facing outward, striking at his opponent's Qimen Acupoint. Power gathered within the strike, as though it could shatter stone. Energy from his Dantian rose along the Governing Vessel, breaking down once more into a massive flow of chakra that gathered in his right palm and erupted through it, forming an enormous impact.

Boom! Boom!

Dull explosions rang out through the air.

"Eight Trigrams Two Palms."

"Four Palms."

"Thirty-Two Palms."

"Sixty... sixty..."

Suddenly, Neji lost his balance. His chakra could no longer keep up, and the chakra needles in his palms flickered before vanishing.

He slowly exhaled and ended his training, unable to suppress his frustration.

"Still no good. My body is too small right now, and I can't extract enough chakra. My own cultivation is limited as well."

Neji looked inward at his utterly empty Dantian, feeling the stabbing pain and hunger rising from it as he pondered.

This was indeed the most pressing matter at present. Chakra was formed from energy extracted from every cell in the body combined with spiritual energy. Naturally, only as the body grew could more chakra be extracted.

Neji's Macrocosmic Orbit technique currently relied solely on his own chakra for further refinement. Limited by this, the improvement in his strength was modest. He could only perform sixty of the Eight Trigrams Sixty-Four Palms; the final four palms lacked power.

As he thought, Neji slowly circulated his technique, squeezing another thread of chakra from his cells and guiding it into his Dantian. The stabbing pain there eased slightly.

"This energy, so different from the chakra of this world, is quite similar to the Qi said to exist only in the legends of Taoism from my previous life's Celestial Dynasty."

Neji watched his Dantian gradually recover and spoke thoughtfully.

If it really was Qi, then Neji had struck it rich.

The Ninja World was a cruel place. Its history was filled with war. Although there had been a period of peace after Hashirama Senju ended the Warring States Era, even fiercer, army-scale ninja wars had followed.

In their pursuit of strength, ninjas overtaxed their bodies and burned away their lives in advance. Even someone as powerful as Hashirama had died young. The average ninja's lifespan was limited to between thirty and forty years.

Neji had arrived in this world for no apparent reason and had been deeply uneasy. Now, by a twist of fate, he could cultivate Qi. It was like swallowing a calming pill, and he no longer felt so thoroughly alienated from this world.

"But figuring out how to speed up my Qi cultivation is the most urgent matter right now!"

"Wait, Essence Refining into Qi... let me think..."

"I've got it—elixirs! I can refine elixirs!"

Neji's eyes lit up, only to dim again a moment later.

"The problem is, I don't know how to refine elixirs!"

For a moment, Neji had gotten so excited that he had nearly thought he had transmigrated into a cultivation world. Then he remembered that there were no elixirs in the Ninja World. No, to be precise, there were still some—Soldier Pills, as well as the Akimichi Clan's secret medicines.

"I definitely shouldn't eat those!"

Shaking his head, Neji gave up on the elixir option.

"For the rest, I'll have to learn about the high-grade beast meat and medicinal herbs of this world. I'll use the most primitive method of dietary supplementation!"

"I just wonder whether they're expensive. I'm all alone and don't have much money!"

One problem followed another, leaving Neji somewhat irritated.

"Forget it. No more thinking. Keep training!"

Neji began practicing the Eight Trigrams Palm again.

This time, however, his palm strikes lacked their previous powerful momentum. Neji had not used chakra; he had to conserve his Qi as well.

After completing one round, he began again from the start.

Neji gradually steadied his mind and devoted himself fully to practicing the Eight Trigrams Palm.

The Eight Trigrams Palm was one form of the Hyuga Clan's Gentle Fist Technique. It included the Sixty-Four Palms, One Hundred Twenty-Eight Palms, Eight Trigrams Air Palm, Rotation, and perhaps other variations, though those were all private signature techniques that Neji had never seen.

The Eight Trigrams Palm was a palm technique that restricted an enemy's movements by striking their meridians and acupoints, or directly destroyed localized tissue. Paired with the Byakugan, which could see through the human body's meridians, it was an ideal match.

In battle, once an enemy entered one's Eight Trigrams Domain, a full combo could be unleashed from beginning to end: first sealing the meridians in the limbs, then striking the acupoints on the torso, and finally hitting fatal points on the head, heart, and elsewhere.

Against opponents of the same level, one full set was generally enough to take them down. Its practical combat value was considerable, and the Gentle Fist had contributed greatly to the Hyuga Clan remaining a great clan for a thousand years.

Its upper limit, however, was equally clear. Even with the Main House's three-hundred-and-sixty-degree Byakugan with no blind spots, elite Jonin was the limit.

As for the Tenseigan, that was even more of a fantasy.

As for why he had not continued cultivating the ninjutsu and genjutsu systems, Neji had gained some understanding through his investigations over this period. In the end, a person's energy was limited, especially in the Ninja World, where one had to carry out missions and even go to war at barely more than ten years old.

The Gentle Fist was not something one could master merely by memorizing the moves. Every palm corresponded to specific meridians for moving chakra, and the chakra needles in the palms had to strike precise acupoints across the body. Therefore, to learn the Eight Trigrams Palm, one first had to memorize the body's meridians and acupoints.

This required learning to read first. In the Ninja World, where the average person was illiterate, only great clans could provide such education.

Once the children of a clan gained awareness, they learned to read. By the time they had mastered the basic characters, it was time to enter the academy. At the academy, they learned the fundamental skills of being a ninja, and only after returning home could they continue studying the Gentle Fist.

The Eight Trigrams Domain that complemented the Gentle Fist was another difficult hurdle. When delivering the second palm, which step should one take? Should one move from the Zhen position to the Qian position, or turn from the Li position to the Kun position? Every palm had its own requirements.

Once they had learned all that, well, it was time to graduate and take missions, or head to the battlefield. A few years later, most would be dead, and another batch would come along.

Because the Main House did not carry out missions, they felt no urgency in improving their strength. Once they discovered that the Gentle Fist could suppress opponents of the same level, they grew complacent.

By their thirties, once they had become proficient in the Gentle Fist and found that they could generally defeat opponents of the same level, they were satisfied with themselves. By then, even if they wanted to study ninjutsu or genjutsu, their hearts might be willing, but they lacked the strength.

Ninjutsu was not learned simply by forming hand seals. It involved extremely complex knowledge, including shape transformation and nature transformation. Without extraordinary perseverance, few people could break through their limits, improve in every aspect, and reach Shadow Rank.

Gathering the talent of an entire village only produced a few such people in the end. How many members did the Hyuga Clan's Main House have? Dreaming was easier.

As for the Branch House, they were restricted in being taught the Gentle Fist. Learning the Sixty-Four Palms was already their limit. Coupled with the need to constantly undertake missions, few ninjas lived past thirty.