New Target: Gentle Fist?

A rapidly spinning pale-blue chakra barrier appeared.

It collided head-on with the massive fireball, erupting with a deafening roar!

Blinding light and scorching shockwaves swept in every direction, blasting up all the dirt and rubble on the ground! For a moment, rippling distortions spread through the air nearby!

Mikami Yu flipped over in midair and landed steadily, staring intently at the flames before him.

Strictly speaking, a C-Rank Ninjutsu could not hurt a Chunin like Hizashi Hyuga. But the problem was that the latter had not known—had not even expected—that he, a ninja academy student, would use this jutsu. He had been caught off guard by the information gap.

So, to avoid accidental injury, Mikami Yu had deliberately aimed the Fire Style: Fire Ball Jutsu slightly to the side. Given the reaction speed Hizashi Hyuga had displayed earlier, he could easily have used the Body Flicker Technique to evade to the side. But the man had actually used Rotation, which was somewhat beyond Mikami Yu's expectations.

More than ten seconds later.

The flames were shredded and extinguished by the spinning chakra, while thick smoke billowed outward.

Hizashi Hyuga's figure emerged once more.

Compared to a few minutes earlier, he looked somewhat disheveled. Half a sleeve had been burned away, and parts of his hair and shoulder were singed. Yet those Byakugan eyes remained locked onto Mikami Yu, his gaze complex, containing indescribable shock amid lingering alarm.

"You..."

"I surrender."

Mikami Yu raised both hands and gave a French military salute. "That's all the Ninjutsu I can use, and I've nearly exhausted my chakra. Looks like veteran ninja seniors are still stronger."

"...How did you avoid my Byakugan just now?"

Hizashi Hyuga fell silent for several seconds before asking.

"Kaimon Hyuga and I are classmates. I've observed him during training, and based on those observations, I guessed that the Byakugan's field of vision isn't a complete 360 degrees. There's a tiny blind spot at an angle behind the user's back, so..."

What Mikami Yu said was half true, half false.

It was true that the Byakugan of the Hyuga Branch Family had a visual blind spot, but he had learned that information from reading manga in his previous life.

Still...

There was no way to disprove his claim that he had noticed it through everyday observation. Theoretically, it was possible, though such things generally remained only theoretical.

Across from him.

Hizashi Hyuga gave Mikami Yu another long look, as though trying to see through him completely. Then he let out a long breath. "All right... Your Ninjutsu truly is unusual, your tactics are flexible, and you have this ability to observe and analyze. No wonder you defeated Kaimon."

"However, your Taijutsu is a weakness. It's far too rough. Against a true expert, once you can't use the Substitution Technique to create distance, or your movement patterns are seen through, your situation will become extremely dangerous."

As he spoke,

Hizashi Hyuga walked several steps forward and stopped in a relatively flat area of the field. He began reviewing and breaking down the fight. "Watch closely. When you retreated after your first surprise attack, your center of gravity leaned too far back, causing a delay in linking your subsequent movements. If I had chosen to rush in at close range, you would have found it difficult to defend yourself.

"The correct approach should be..."

It had to be said, Neji's father was genuinely generous. The battle had barely ended, yet he had already begun making good on his original promise. He explained the key details of evasion, blocking, force generation, and movement transitions one by one, while breaking them down and demonstrating them on the spot.

Though these things were considered basics, they were all crucial. The great Dharma was simple; precious experience like this, summarized from actual combat, was difficult to learn elsewhere. That was especially true for a civilian ninja like Mikami Yu, who lacked a systematic Taijutsu inheritance.

He stood to one side, watching without blinking and doing his best to imprint every detail into his mind.

About twenty minutes later.

Hizashi Hyuga stopped explaining.

Mikami Yu took the opportunity to ask several questions, which the man answered. Only then did this lesson come to an end.

"That's enough for today."

Hizashi Hyuga brushed dust and scorch marks from his clothes. "Remember, Taijutsu is the foundation of a ninja. No matter how exquisite the Ninjutsu, it requires a strong body and agile movements to support its use. Practice the techniques I taught you well."

"Thank you for your guidance."

Mikami Yu bowed slightly.

The gains from this fight and the instruction that followed had far exceeded his expectations.

Hizashi Hyuga said nothing more. With several quick leaps, he disappeared into the woods at the edge of the training ground, leaving Mikami Yu deep in thought.

Only after walking some distance away.

Hizashi Hyuga slowed down and looked back toward the training ground, lost in thought.

He had come here in the first place to see Mikami Yu's Three Techniques with his own eyes and confirm the source of Kaimon Hyuga's doubts.

After this exchange, relying on Byakugan and Taijutsu more refined than Kaimon Hyuga's, Hizashi Hyuga had indeed seen some things. But it was precisely because he had seen them clearly that he found them impossible to understand—

The principle of the "Substitution Technique" was high-speed Body Flicker Technique concealed by misdirection. Its principle and that of the "Flying Thunder God" could not be called identical; they had absolutely nothing to do with each other.

Under normal circumstances, this jutsu was only suitable when someone stronger fought someone weaker. In a battle between opponents of equal level, it was difficult to find an opportunity to use it. Even if it could be used, it would only evade one crucial technique—once, but not twice.

But Mikami Yu...

How could someone turn the Substitution Technique into a combo chain?

And each use linked so smoothly, as though it had no cooldown at all?

It was simply...

Like a concept called "Substitution Technique"!

As for the Transformation Technique, that was absurd too. The Byakugan did have a visual blind spot, but it was only about one degree. The Transformation Technique was merely misdirection, an illusion—how could a living person's chakra suddenly become impossible to sense?

What a strange junior.

Hizashi Hyuga thought about it for a long time without figuring it out. He could only shake his head, temporarily suppress his doubts, and turn to leave.

At the training ground.

Mikami Yu remained where he was. Only after digesting Hizashi Hyuga's demonstrations and review did he raise his head again and let out a long breath.

Then he turned his attention to the Gala System.

He remembered that when he had fought Hizashi Hyuga just now, several notifications seemed to have flashed past:

[Ding! High-quality potential target detected: "Gentle Fist"]

[Requirements for pursuing this target are not currently met. Unable to pursue.]

[Taijutsu knowledge and combat experience injected. Basic understanding of Taijutsu slightly improved.]

Hmm... It seemed not every technique could trigger an [Encounter]. A secret technique like Gentle Fist, which required the Byakugan to be used alongside it, could not enter the pursuit list. But since the system could detect it, that meant it was still possible to pursue, only that the conditions were rather demanding.

After confirming this,

Mikami Yu continued scrolling through the chat log.