The light from the oil lamp flickered on the scroll. He looked at the familiar meridian diagrams and suddenly realized something.
Starting tomorrow, he will no longer be just a Chunin from the Hyuga Branch Family.
He's an inspector ninja sent out by the Hokage. This identity won't make his Gentle Fist stronger, but it will ensure that people listen to him.
The next morning, the square in front of the Military Administration Bureau was packed with people.
Hundreds of selected ninjas lined up according to their assigned regions. Isamu Hyūga stood in the line for the northwest border region and looked around.
There were Hyuga Clan, the Inuzuka Clan, the Aburame Clan, and many ordinary ninjas without any clan background.
Chunin, with a few Jonin occasionally appearing. Everyone's expression was similar: tense, excited, and a little uncertain.
Staff members from the Military Administration Bureau pushed several carts past the queue in turn.
Each cart neatly holds two items: a green liquid in a transparent glass tube and a sealing scroll.
Cell culture medium, intramuscular injection.
Chakra levels are expected to increase two to three times after the injection, and may be even higher for some individuals with compatible constitutions.
The expiration date is currently unknown; theoretically, it's semi-permanent. Side effects.
Symptoms such as fever, muscle soreness, and Chakra disturbances may occur within 24 hours after injection. These are normal reactions and will not affect mission execution.
The staff mechanically repeated the instructions, handing each person a vial of cell solution and a scroll.
When it was Isamu Hyūga's turn, he took the glass tube, the green liquid inside gleaming warmly in the sunlight.
He recalled the legends about the First Hokage.
I wonder if what I did counts as blasphemy against the God of Shinobi?
But then I thought about it again, and realized I was just an ordinary Chunin. All I had to do was carry out the Lord Hokage's decisions.
He rolled up his sleeve and plunged the syringe into his left arm. The moment the green liquid entered his muscle, a surge of heat spread from his arm throughout his body, followed by a tingling sensation deep within his bones, as if something was reforging his meridians.
He gritted his teeth and endured the pain, while several people next to him squatted down in agony. One of them even collapsed to the ground and was dragged to the rest area by a staff member with a blank expression.
After about ten minutes, the soreness gradually subsided.
Isamu Hyūga opened his arms, feeling the surging Chakra within him, which was at least twice the amount he had before.
The feeling was wonderful, like someone was pouring a river full of life into my body.
He took a deep breath and opened the sealed scroll again.
The scroll contains an A-rank Ninjutsu. It wasn't randomly assigned, but rather pre-matched based on each person's Chakra attributes and fighting style.
Isamu Hyūga unfurled the scroll, revealing a line of neatly written spell characters.
Vacuum Strike Palm.
He was stunned.
The Eight Trigrams Vacuum Palm is one of the few long-range attack techniques in the Gentle Fist system of the Hyuga Clan. It concentrates Chakra in the palm and strikes out, forming a high-pressure shockwave.
The standard version of Eight Trigrams Vacuum Palm has limited power and short range.
Judging from the ninja's movements in the scroll regarding Chakra manipulation, this is clearly the Hyuga Clan's Eight Trigrams Vacuum Palm.
It's just that the manipulation of Chakra is more sophisticated, like an improved version.
The scroll clearly states that injecting Hashirama Cells increases Chakra levels, resulting in a several-fold increase in the range and power of the Vacuum Palm strike.
Effective range: 50 meters.
Fifty meters.
A Hyūga clansman can shoot from 50 meters away!
Isamu Hyūga's hand holding the scroll trembled slightly. In the Hyuga Branch Family, only a few members of the Main Family were qualified to learn this level of Ninjutsu.
It's now in his hands, without any strings attached.
He held the scroll, unsure whether he should learn it. Wouldn't the Hyuga Clan's Main Family object?
But after much deliberation, the allure of increasing his strength outweighed his fear of the Main Family.
Why not learn? Go find the Hokage if you have any questions!
At noon that Isamu Hyūga walked out of the gates of Konoha with his luggage on his back.
From the time he received his letter of appointment to his departure, less than twenty-four hours had passed.
Konoha's administrative efficiency has never been this high.
He looked back one last time; the colorful sunset above the village was still dreamlike, and the portrait on Hokage Rock was clearly outlined in the sunlight.
The sixth Hokage Rock statue is still slowly taking shape.
It's a bit of a shame, but my portrait Sixth should have been bigger than all the other Hokage's portraits to do justice to the Lord Hokage's achievements!
Lord Hokage, just you wait and see! I, Isamu Hyūga Lord Hokage, will never let you down!
He turned and stepped onto the official road, striding briskly into the distance.
The journey from Konoha to the Northwest Border Third Outpost takes a ninja five days. Along the way, he passes through three towns, seven villages, and two passes.
Everywhere he went, he saw the same sight.
Konoha ninjas handed over the old flag to local officials, and the old flag was lowered and replaced with the new flag of the Development Committee.
The red cloth was embroidered with white flame emblems. In some places, the handover went smoothly, as local officials had already heard about it and actively cooperated.
In some places, they encountered resistance. The die-hard supporters of the former daimyo pointed their fingers at the Konoha Ninja and cursed them as usurpers, but they were intimidated by a single glance from the accompanying Anbu.
No one really dared to make a move.
The daimyo is dead, the old nobles' backers have fallen, and everyone in Konoha has a Hashirama Cells fluid, causing their Chakra to surge. No one wants to be the first to stick their neck out.
On the evening of the fourth day, Isamu Hyūga arrived at his destination.
The Northwest Border Third Outpost was built halfway up a rocky mountain, with a desolate Gobi desert below and the desert border of the Land of Wind faintly visible in the distance.
The outer walls of the outpost were made of rough granite, and the surface was covered with dents caused by wind and sand erosion.
Two soldiers stood at the gate of the outpost. One was dozing off, while the other stared blankly at Isamu Hyūga for a long time before reacting and hurriedly saluting.
"I am Konoha, an inspector ninja sent by Isamu Hyūga." He presented his letter of appointment.
The soldier took the letter of appointment, glanced at it, and his expression became extremely complicated.
There was surprise, unease, and a hint of barely concealed resistance.
" Hyūga, we haven't received any official notification yet. Would it be possible for you to stay in the barracks for now and wait until tomorrow—"
"Let's begin now," Isamu Hyūga said. His voice wasn't loud, but there was a certainty in his tone that surprised even himself.
He walked through the gate of the outpost. In the courtyard, a dozen or so soldiers who originally belonged to the daimyo army stood in a sparse row, their armor of varying ages, some still wearing the flame emblem of the old daimyo.
The captain was a veteran in his forties with a scar on his face that ran diagonally from his eyebrow to his chin.
He looked at Isamu Hyūga, a boy who hadn't grown a beard yet, wearing a green vest like Konoha Chunin, with the Hyuga Clan Forehead Protector tied around his forehead, and his lips twitched involuntarily.
"So you're the inspector sent by Konoha?" The captain's tone wasn't exactly rude, but it was certainly not polite either.
"Yes." Isamu Hyūga looked at him. "From now on, all military dispatches, personnel arrangements, and supply distributions at this outpost must be approved by my signature."
"You?" A soldier couldn't help but chuckle, only to be immediately glared back by his captain.
The captain was silent for a few seconds, then crossed his arms over his chest.
"Young man, I've been guarding this outpost for fifteen years. How old are you? How many enemies have you killed?"