Hinata Hyuga

When bamboo leaves shattered into gold foil beneath the morning light, Neji's palm hovered half an inch before Hinata's throat.

"Eight Trigrams Sixteen Palms."

He deliberately kept his shout low, though the wind stirred by his palm merely brushed the hair by Hinata's ear.

The slender girl's back was already pressed against the vermilion wooden post of the training ground. Neji's backlit figure swayed in her pale eyes like a butterfly trapped in amber.

The clack of Hiashi Hyuga's wooden sandals came from the covered corridor. As Neji withdrew his stance, he deliberately let his sleeve brush across Hinata's shoulder.

That motion should have been Cloud Hands Disarming Armor from the Gentle Fist, but now it was as light as plucking a fallen flower from her shoulder. Hinata staggered back half a step, her white training clothes rippling in the morning breeze and revealing her fair arm beneath her sleeve.

"Continue."

Hiashi's voice drifted over amid the soft clink of a teacup. Neji caught sight of Hinata's clenched fists trembling, her nails nearly piercing her palms.

"Please guide me." Hinata suddenly bowed deeply. When she raised her eyes, sweat had pasted strands of hair to her forehead.

Neji noticed that she had adjusted her opening stance—not the orthodox Main House Crane Wing Reaching Sky, but with her right hand guarding her heart. It was a defensive posture the Gentle Fist used against surprise attacks.

When the first palm came whistling through the air, Neji instinctively used six palms to deflect the surprise attack. As his other palm gathered force to strike Hinata's left shoulder, he reconsidered and pulled back to defend.

Seeing this, Hinata thrust forward with her fingers together, angling toward the corner of Neji's eye.

Neji tilted his head slightly.

Hinata's fingertips brushed past his ear. What should have been a killing move aimed straight at his temple felt like willow branches brushing his face in her hands. He caught her wrist with the motion, yet loosened his grip the instant he felt her pulse.

"Too slow."

Hiashi's assessment made Hinata shudder from head to toe.

Using the motion of spinning to shed force, Neji leaned close to her ear. "Follow Dui Marsh Form with Gen Mountain Form."

Hinata froze for a moment. Her feet slid apart with the momentum, but her body involuntarily followed Neji's instructions.

Neji blocked Hinata's downward palm, then sharply shook his arm. Their bodies sprang apart from each other.

From Hiashi's perspective, his daughter had seized the timing of her attack exceptionally well, and she no longer looked as helpless against Neji's offense as before. He could not help nodding.

"Brother Neji... you don't need to hold back." Hinata suddenly said softly. As she spun, beads of sweat shaken from her sleeves glittered beneath the rising sun like shattered diamonds. Her palm strikes abruptly became dense and unbroken, the afterimages of sixteen palms weaving into a pale white net!

"Twenty-Four Palms."

He had no choice but to raise the frequency of his shouted moves to conceal his surprise. When Hinata's fingertips brushed past his chest for the third time, Neji sensed that his guidance had opened up a new way of thinking for her.

At the beginner level of Eight Trigrams Palm, it was used exactly as Hinata had before: strike from the first palm through the final palm in sequence, and if the enemy still had not fallen after the set was complete, start over from the beginning.

That method was far too rigid, but Hinata was still a child. Expecting her to understand it on her own was unrealistic. In Hiashi's eyes, adapting techniques to the situation was an advanced application of the Gentle Fist, so naturally he would not teach it to Hinata.

At her age, being able to memorize the entire Gentle Fist and perform it once from start to finish was already quite impressive.

Neji simply had not expected that his casual advice would open up a new line of thought for Hinata. Though she was still immature and hesitant in her attacks, her talent was clear enough to see.

The advanced style of the Gentle Fist differed from the beginner style. In fact, most clan members remained at the beginner level, because the nature of the Gentle Fist made it a palm technique focused on control and rapid attacks.

Within the Eight Trigrams Domain, once the opponent was controlled, one could finish an entire chain of attacks without needing to think at all.

The advanced style not only required mastery of the Gentle Fist, but also considerable talent to judge in the instant one faced an enemy which move to use and how to transition smoothly between techniques.

Otherwise, the first one to fall would be oneself.

The dew on the bluestone bricks began to evaporate. Neji turned his palm into a blade and chopped toward Hinata's shoulder and neck, but the instant it touched her fluttering hair ribbon, his fingers suddenly changed into a hook.

The panic Hinata showed at his sudden change of move should have been a perfect opening, yet he supported her lower back with his left hand and used the centrifugal force of their spin to gently push the girl out of danger.

"Enough. We stop here!"

The lid Hiashi threw embedded itself in the crack between the bricks before them. Neji remained in the posture of supporting Hinata and noticed that the cloth on her back had already been soaked through with cold sweat. Morning dew dripped from the strands of hair hanging over her face onto the back of his hand, as cold as the paper ash he had caught while kneeling in the ancestral shrine that year.

"Tomorrow, train for an extra hour." As Hiashi rose, the jade ornament at his belt chimed softly. Neji looked at the bronze wind chimes swaying beneath the eaves and suddenly saw the names of Branch House dead engraved on every clapper.

"Thank you, Brother Neji."

Hinata's sudden words broke Neji from his thoughts. Looking at the frail girl before him, slightly bowed, he once more felt helpless before this thing called fate.

Fate was not a predetermined script for one's life, but the choices one was forced to make after being placed in a certain position in this world.

The girl before him had wet hair and practiced the Gentle Fist every day under her father's coercion. She did not even know why she had to do it. Neji's guidance today had spared her an even harsher punishment from her father, so she timidly thanked him in a small voice.

She really was an easily embarrassed girl, Neji thought.

"It's nothing. I'm surprised you grasped it so quickly as well. It shows you have good talent. You simply lack confidence. If you can believe in yourself, I think your strength will improve considerably."

"Is that so... Alright... I... I'll give it a try!"

Hinata said softly, her face red.

Neji had no special feelings toward the little girl. He neither hated nor envied her, and the sort of obsessive fixation his original self had fallen into would never happen with him.

Neji did not need to defeat or humiliate anyone to prove anything. That was also why he had kept a low profile in recent days, cultivating behind closed doors. He did not have to provoke people everywhere or fight everyone he met to vent the frustration in his heart.

Cultivation itself was already something wondrous, filled with things Neji wanted to explore. Besides, Neji possessed an even more extraordinary method, making cultivation an exceedingly pleasant experience.

Transcendence was Neji's only pursuit in this life.

"I... I'll first..."

"Hinata, I have something to do, so I'll be leaving first."

After saying that, Neji turned and left.

Hinata withdrew the words she had not finished, staring blankly as Neji's back receded into the distance.

"If he were Father's child, Father would surely be very pleased!"

Hinata clasped both hands before her chest, unable to stop a deep admiration for Neji from rising within her. No child would reject an older brother who treated her patiently, especially Hinata, who had grown up in such a strict clan and had faced the disappointed gaze of her stern father since childhood.

Neji had no idea what kind of impact his inadvertent actions would have on a little girl starved of affection. At that moment, his hunger was so fierce that his chest seemed to cling to his back.

He raced home at top speed and immediately ordered the maid to bring out the meat he had prepared long ago, then began devouring it with gusto.

"Delicious~"