Chapter 8: Level Gap, The Use of Points
Throughout the entire summer vacation, Izayoi trained together with Hinata.
Every day, he would first locate Yamanaka Ino's position, then use the Transformation Jutsu to invite Hinata out. The two of them would go to an abandoned training field to either practice tree climbing or engage in taijutsu sparring.
Having gained friendship and newfound confidence, Hinata underwent a truly astonishing transformation over the summer.
It wasn't just her strength that changed—her temperament did too.
The first to notice the change in his eldest daughter was Hyuga Hiashi.
When he learned that Hinata was practicing water walking, he realized that she wasn't simply going out to make friends and play.
Izayoi also noticed that someone was secretly observing him and Hinata.
But he didn't hide—he intended to test Hyuga Hiashi's attitude.
That day, Izayoi found an excuse to show Hinata how he walked on water.
In addition, Izayoi demonstrated the Shadow Clone Jutsu, a basic Wind Release technique, and completely overpowered Hinata in their taijutsu sparring.
The next day, Izayoi once again transformed into Yamanaka Ino and went to the Hyuga compound to invite Hinata out.
The moment he saw Hinata walk out, he understood Hyuga Hiashi's attitude.
This noble clan leader had tacitly approved of Hinata training with him.
To the ninja clans, Izayoi's identity was no secret at all.
A civilian orphan born into a ninja family, who hadn't even completed three terms of his first academic year, had already mastered techniques like tree climbing and water walking—which weren't even taught at the Ninja Academy—and could use the Shadow Clone Jutsu and basic Wind Release techniques.
Such talent and chakra reserves clearly marked him as a civilian prodigy of this era.
Training with such a genius would provide Hinata with much greater motivation.
This was evident from how hard she trained at home, her rapid progress with water walking, and her evolving personality and aura.
Although Hiashi had always been somewhat disappointed in his eldest daughter, he hadn't yet discovered Hanabi's potential and thus hadn't given up on Hinata or shifted his focus to his younger daughter.
Seeing how much Hinata changed just by making one friend, Hiashi felt nothing but pleased.
As for separating the two, he had no such thoughts.
First, the two were still very young—this was clearly just innocent friendship.
Second, in his eyes, a relationship between Izayoi and Hinata was impossible.
The Hyuga clan's Byakugan would never be allowed to spread outside the clan.
To him, Izayoi was merely a tool to help transform Hinata.
Hiashi would continue to monitor their relationship closely. Once it showed any signs of change, he would intervene and make them face the harsh reality.
Unless Izayoi became a truly exceptional figure—like the Fourth Hokage Minato Namikaze—the two of them would have no future together.
None of this was known to Izayoi or Hinata.
Seeing that Hiashi didn't stop him from spending time with Hinata, Izayoi relaxed and began wholeheartedly teaching her the three basic techniques (Transformation, Substitution, Clone) and chakra control methods, while also using taijutsu sparring in hopes of triggering Hinata's red talent trait.
This summer was fruitful for both of them.
Hinata had mastered both tree climbing and water walking, and she had also learned the three basic jutsu.
However, perhaps due to insufficient chakra, she hadn't yet learned the Shadow Clone Jutsu.
Additionally, her Gentle Fist (Jūken) technique had improved significantly.
One of Izayoi's own talent traits was "Medical Genius."
His late mother had been a medical ninja, and among her belongings was a scroll on basic medical ninjutsu, which Izayoi had already mastered.
In order to trigger the red talent trait from the "Byakugan Princess," Izayoi, apart from going easy on Hinata for the first few days to give her time to adjust, had otherwise sparred seriously and relentlessly beaten her.
After the beatings, he would heal her.
Unlike Neji, who was full of hatred toward Hinata but restrained by Hiashi's presence and didn't dare to harm her, Izayoi really hit her—with no mercy whatsoever.
He didn't care about politeness or holding back. He just beat her, then coaxed her afterward.
After constantly getting beaten up, Hinata's real combat experience skyrocketed. Her attacks grew decisive, and she showed no hesitation in injecting chakra into Izayoi's body during fights.
With this routine of fighting followed by healing, Hinata had adapted completely. She would no longer be like in the original story—so kind-hearted that she couldn't bring herself to hurt her younger sister and ended up losing to Hanabi, who was five years younger.
It was precisely this obvious change that made Hiashi fully approve of Hinata's "meetings" with Izayoi.
Although Izayoi didn't manage to trigger Hinata's red talent trait that summer, his own improvement was just as significant.
Through his taijutsu duels with Hinata, he had secretly learned the Hyuga clan's Gentle Fist and chakra point striking techniques.
After testing Hiashi's attitude, Izayoi even persuaded Hinata—under the guise of needing instruction—to secretly bring out a human acupuncture point chart and a scroll on chakra point striking.
He had already mastered the body's chakra points and the techniques for inserting chakra into the opponent's body.
While he wasn't interested in the Eight Trigrams Palms, he was very intrigued by the technique of sealing the opponent's chakra flow through chakra point strikes.
In real combat, such a skill might prove incredibly useful.
Although he didn't trigger a red talent trait, Izayoi did gain two traits from Hinata that summer.
One was a blue trait: "Chakra Control," which Izayoi already possessed.
At that moment, a notification rang in his mind:
"Ding! You have obtained the talent trait [Chakra Control (Blue)]. It overlaps with your existing trait. Would you like to merge or disassemble it?"
Izayoi chose to merge.
After merging, the trait didn't upgrade to purple; it remained blue.
However, Izayoi could feel a clear improvement in his chakra control.
At that moment, he finally understood why Sakura Haruno had been able to surpass Hinata—who had practiced Gentle Fist since childhood—and even Shizune—who trained under Tsunade—for just three years.
It was like how the Hyuga clan, despite also being descended from the Otsutsuki bloodline, couldn't compare to the lunar branch of the clan.
Though both possessed chakra control, the gap between blue and purple was vast.
Even merging two blue-level chakra control traits wasn't enough to reach the purple tier.
But purple chakra control had allowed Sakura to learn advanced medical ninjutsu in just three years, along with the Senju clan's chakra burst, and even the S-rank Yin Seal and Strength of a Hundred Technique.
Aside from "Chakra Control," Izayoi also obtained a purple talent trait: Kekkei Genkai: Byakugan.
Unfortunately, a Kekkei Genkai is just a Kekkei Genkai. The "Byakugan Princess" is something else entirely.
Without the Kekkei Genkai: Byakugan already in his bloodline, this trait would only grant Izayoi a pair of Byakugan—not the high-purity Byakugan that Hinata possessed.
Izayoi chose to disassemble this trait.
If Izayoi were to fuse the Byakugan, the purity of his Byakugan would undoubtedly increase.
However, awakening the Tenseigan would be an impossible task.
It's just like how fusing two "Chakra Control (Blue)" traits doesn't result in a purple-tier trait.
The Otsutsuki clan, in order to fuse the Tenseigan, sacrificed the entire branch family's Byakugan.
The final form of the massive Tenseigan might have even included the main family's Byakugan.
Given the purity of the Otsutsuki clan's bloodline, their Byakugan purity was definitely higher than that of the Hyuga clan.
For Izayoi to attempt evolving his Byakugan into the Tenseigan through fusion, he would need an uncountable number of trait fusions—a feat close to impossible.
Fusing two traits like that would only be a waste.
Izayoi wasn't lacking in purity.
After disassembling the "Kekkei Genkai: Byakugan (Purple)" trait, Izayoi gained over 1,000 points, and his status panel updated as follows:
[Host: Izayoi][Talent Traits]:
Otsutsuki Bloodline (Red)
Kage-Level Aptitude (Gold)
Kekkei Genkai: Byakugan (Purple)
All-Attribute Physique (Purple)
Medical Genius (Blue) [+]
Chakra Control (Blue) [+]
[Points]: 1791
The plus signs [+] next to Medical Genius and Chakra Control indicated that they could be upgraded.
That—is the true purpose of points.
(End of Chapter)