Lately, with no major battles raging on the front lines, the medical station had been relatively quiet. Lady Tsunade was still hospitalized, so Hinata Haruki could only continue training on his own.
Haruki wanted to hone his Tenseigan, but without a fully developed Sage Body, it could only remain as a hidden trump card for now. While refining the purity of his Byakugan, he also felt it was time to create some techniques unique to himself.
One of his main focuses was improving the Eight Trigrams Vacuum Palm. It was his best weapon for long-range strikes, but it had some glaring weaknesses:
First, it required a short charging period.
Second, it consumed quite a bit of chakra.
Third, its speed wasn't always enough—against distant enemies, there was a good chance they could evade.
If he wanted to take down enemies reliably, he had to fire off a barrage of Vacuum Palms, widening his attack range. But doing so drained his stamina quickly. If any enemies slipped through, he would find himself at a disadvantage.
So, Haruki decided to create a new technique—one with almost no charge time, instant activation, low chakra cost, and far greater speed than the Vacuum Palm, while still being able to strike at range.
The concept immediately reminded him of Hōzuki Suigetsu's Water Release: Water Gun Technique, which fired a high-pressure stream from the index finger to pierce enemies.
If he could project the same chakra shockwave as the Eight Trigrams Vacuum Palm from just a finger, it could become a much faster, more efficient move. The result would be thin, slicing shockwaves—like invisible blades or high-speed air bullets—that could target an enemy's tenketsu from afar with deadly precision.
He began experimenting with channeling chakra through his fingers. The Byakugan made it easy to pinpoint the finger's tenketsu.
But projecting chakra from a finger the same way as from a palm was difficult. A finger lacked the palm's broad tenketsu surface; without enough thrust, the chakra blast would fizzle after a short distance, barely enough to sting. Too much force, and it risked injuring his own finger.
The palm's wide concentration of tenketsu allowed for a powerful burst, propelling the shockwave with strong recoil. A finger… not so much.
And then there was the problem of chakra output—too little and it lacked power, too much and it became unstable or self-harming. Accurate aiming was also a challenge.
Fortunately, Haruki had abundant chakra reserves. He created several shadow clones to experiment with the technique gradually.
At the same time, he began researching a new Body Flicker Technique of his own. Haruki had always wanted to further increase his speed. In the shinobi world, speed was strength—you only had to look at the greats:
The Second Hokage, Tobirama Senju, with his Flying Thunder God Technique and Instantaneous Water Body Flicker—one Flying Thunder God slash had killed Madara Uchiha's brother.
The Fourth Hokage, Minato Namikaze, who perfected the Flying Thunder God to wipe out entire squads in seconds.
The Third and Fourth Raikage with their Lightning Release Armor, fast enough to overwhelm even the Eight-Tails.
Uchiha Obito's Kamui, letting him bypass any barrier as if it were paper, appearing wherever he wished in an instant.
Compared to them, his own speed was far too slow. That had to change.
His idea came from combining the Eight Trigrams techniques with his clan's chakra control. Standard Body Flicker relied on focusing chakra in the legs to create a short burst of acceleration. But as a Hyuga, Haruki's Byakugan allowed chakra release from every tenketsu in the body.
So, what if every tenketsu released chakra at once?
He already understood the principle from the Eight Trigrams Vacuum Palm—gathering chakra, then releasing it explosively. If his whole body detonated chakra in a controlled burst, the recoil could launch him faster than leg power alone.
There could be additional benefits—like mid-air direction changes, or curved trajectories instead of straight-line movement.
The first step was training each tenketsu to burst chakra on command. The palms, legs, and feet already had this ability, but the rest of the body required individual conditioning.
He began with one tenketsu at a time, then progressed to multiple simultaneous bursts, and finally aimed to release chakra from the entire body, controlling which points activated and how forcefully.
The second step was integrating this into his existing Body Flicker—like using bursts from the back to increase thrust, or mid-air bursts to shift sideways. This would give him mobility in situations where most shinobi were helpless, like airborne combat.
For example, Naruto had to create shadow clones mid-air to push off and change direction, but with this technique, Haruki could do so instantly.
The third step was full mastery—changing trajectory freely, chaining multi-angled Flickers into a single, uninterrupted movement.
If an enemy was hiding just around a corner, a standard approach might take two Flickers—one to get near, another to get behind. But a single angled Flicker could do it faster. Even better, striking three enemies in different spots with one continuous motion would be far quicker than using three separate Flickers.
That would be close to true teleportation.
Haruki split his shadow clones—half worked on the new Body Flicker, half on the finger-projected Vacuum Palm. With his current chakra reserves, over twenty clones could work at once without exhausting him too quickly.
Still, creating one new technique was difficult—two at once was insane.
On the training field, rows of wooden stakes stood tightly packed. Haruki and ten of his clones dashed through at high speed, crashing often and vanishing in puffs of white smoke. The other ten clones practiced finger-projected chakra blasts, their fingers red and swollen like carrots.
After two days, progress was painfully small.
Sigh… I really bit off more than I can chew. The stronger I get, the harder and more complex the techniques become—and the harder they are to control. I can't split my focus like before. One at a time.
Haruki decided to prioritize the new Body Flicker. Speed could save his life—if he couldn't win, he could escape; if he could win, speed let him finish the fight quickly.
By the third day, his progress with the Flicker outstripped the previous two days combined.
On the fourth day, Haruki arrived at the training field and split into clones as usual. The original began with his fundamentals: activating his Byakugan, climbing mountains with weights strapped on, running up waterfalls, finger-strength drills, and practicing Taijiquan and Eight Trigrams Palm routines.
That's when two uninvited guests appeared—watching from behind a large boulder, clearly intrigued by his training.
"You two… how long do you plan to keep watching?" Haruki asked without turning. With his Byakugan active, everything within a kilometer was under his observation. He'd noticed them immediately, though their identities were still a mystery.
"Sorry, we didn't mean to spy," one of them replied—a boy's voice, polite but curious. "We just wanted to see what Lady Tsunade's only student looked like."
The two leapt into the open.
Haruki took a good look at them for the first time.
The first boy looked about twelve or thirteen, with a head of tousled golden-blond hair and long side bangs framing his cheeks. His handsome face carried a warm, confident smile, and his clear blue eyes radiated sunlight itself. He wore a white long-sleeved athletic jacket over a mesh shirt, with black shinobi pants.
The second boy was older—around fourteen or fifteen—with short ash-brown hair, a forehead protector, and large golden-brown eyes much like Tsunade's. His face was rounder, giving him a gentle appearance. He wore a green-and-white long-sleeved shirt, and a bright green crystal pendant hung from his chest.
When he saw Haruki, the older boy's face lit up, his eyes narrowing into cheerful arcs as he grinned, revealing perfect white teeth. A faint blush colored his cheeks—his expression bore a striking resemblance to a fifteen-year-old Naruto.
"Haha! Yeah, I wanted to see for myself how strong my sister's only disciple really is," he said brightly.
The sight of the blond-haired boy made Haruki's heart race—recognition and excitement hitting all at once.
That's… the thirteen-year-old… Minato Namikaze!!
But when he turned to the other boy, shock eclipsed excitement. His breath caught in disbelief, his mind scrambling to make sense of it.
He knew this boy—knew him well—but his appearance didn't quite match the memory. After checking again and again with his Byakugan, Haruki confirmed it wasn't an illusion.
He froze where he stood, utterly stunned.
That's… Senju Nawaki… at fifteen?! He… he died when he was twelve! Why… why is he here? Alive and well?!