New Target: Gentle Fist?

A pale blue chakra barrier spun into existence at high speed.

Then it collided head-on with the massive fireball, erupting in a deafening roar!

Blinding light and scorching airwaves swept in every direction, blasting up all the dust and shattered stones from the ground! For a moment, rippling waves seemed to fill the air nearby!

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

Strictly speaking, C-Rank Ninjutsu could not hurt a Chunin like Hizashi Hyuga. But the problem was that the latter had no idea at the Root level—and could never have expected—that he, a ninja academy student, could use this jutsu. He had been caught off guard by the difference in information.

So, to avoid accidentally injuring him, Mikami Yu had deliberately aimed the Fire Style: Fire Ball Jutsu slightly to the side. With the reaction speed Hizashi Hyuga had displayed earlier, he could easily have Body Flickered aside. Yet he had actually used Rotation, which caught Mikami Yu a little by surprise.

More than ten seconds later.

The spinning chakra tore apart the flames and extinguished them, while thick smoke billowed outward.

Hizashi Hyuga's figure reappeared as well.

Compared to a few minutes ago, he looked somewhat disheveled. Part of his sleeve had been burned away, and sections of his hair and shoulder had been singed. But those Byakugan eyes remained fixed on Mikami Yu, his expression complicated, his lingering fear mixed with indescribable shock.

"You..."

"I concede."

Mikami Yu raised both hands in a French military salute. "That's all the ninjutsu I know, and my chakra is nearly spent. Looks like veteran ninja seniors really are stronger."

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

After several seconds of silence, Hizashi Hyuga asked the question.

"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 very slight blind spot diagonally behind the user's back, so..."

Mikami Yu's explanation was half true and half false.

It was true that the Byakugan of the Hyuga Branch Family had a 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 ordinary observation. After all, such a thing was theoretically possible, even if it usually remained only theoretical.

Across from him.

Hizashi Hyuga gave Mikami Yu another deep look, as though he wanted to see through him completely. Then he let out a long breath. "All right... Your ninjutsu is indeed very unusual, your tactics are flexible, and you possess this level of observation and analysis. No wonder you could defeat Kaimon."

"However, your taijutsu is a weakness. It's far too crude. Against a true expert, once you fail to create distance with the Substitution Technique, or once your movement patterns are seen through, your situation will become extremely dangerous."

As he spoke,

Hizashi Hyuga stepped forward a few paces, stopped on a relatively flat patch of ground, and began reviewing and breaking down the fight. "Watch carefully. When you pulled back after your first surprise attack, you leaned your center of gravity too far backward. That delayed the transition into your next movement. If I had chosen to rush you at close range, you would have found it very difficult to defend yourself."

"The correct approach should be..."

It had to be said, Neji's father was truly generous. The battle had only just ended, yet he had already begun fulfilling his original promise. He explained every crucial detail, from evasion and blocking to coordinating the flow of force, and demonstrated them on the spot.

Although these were all fundamentals, they were also essential. The greatest principles were often the simplest. Valuable experience like this, distilled from actual combat, was difficult to learn elsewhere. This was especially true for civilian ninja like Mikami Yu, who lacked a systematic taijutsu inheritance.

He stood to the 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 raise several questions, which Hizashi answered. Only then did this lesson come to an end.

"That will be all for today."

Hizashi Hyuga brushed the dust and scorch marks from his clothes. "Remember, taijutsu is the Root of a ninja. No matter how exquisite a ninjutsu may be, 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 gave a slight bow.

This fight and the instruction that followed had yielded far more than he had expected.

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

Only after he had traveled some distance.

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 determine the source of Kaimon Hyuga's doubts.

After such a spar, relying on a Byakugan and taijutsu far more refined than Kaimon Hyuga's, Hizashi Hyuga had indeed noticed some things. But precisely because he had seen them clearly, he found them impossible to understand—

The principle behind the Substitution Technique was a high-speed Body Flicker concealed by misdirection. It could not be more different from the principle behind the Flying Thunder God.

Under normal circumstances, this jutsu was only suitable for fighting from higher ground against a lower opponent. In a battle between opponents of equal skill, it was difficult to find an opportunity to use it. Even if one could use it, it would only serve to evade one key move—not twice.

But Mikami Yu...

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

And every use flowed so smoothly. It felt like there was no cooldown at all.

It was simply...

Like a concept called the "Substitution Technique"!

As for the Transformation Technique, that was equally absurd. The Byakugan did have a blind spot, but it was only around 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 reaching an answer. He could only shake his head, temporarily put aside 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 recalled that, while he had been fighting Hizashi Hyuga, several notifications seemed to have flashed by:

[Ding! A high-quality potential strategy target has been detected: "Gentle Fist"]

[The requirements for strategy have not yet been met. Unable to strategize.]

[Taijutsu knowledge and combat experience have been infused. Basic taijutsu comprehension has increased slightly.]

Hmm... It seemed not every technique could trigger [Encounter]. A secret technique like Gentle Fist, which needed to be used together with the Byakugan, could not enter the strategy list. But since the system could detect it, that meant it was still possible to strategize it—only the requirements were rather strict.

After confirming this,

Mikami Yu continued reviewing the chat log.