As evening fell, Konoha lay calm and still.
The night's shadow draped over the village like a gray coat, and the four stone faces of the Hokage Monument watched silently, like giant, weathered guardians observing a land simmering beneath the surface.
In a secluded courtyard, Hyuga Arata stood at the center, dressed in a white training gi. His eyes were closed, his breathing steady.
All around him, shattered wooden stakes hung suspended in midair, supported by mechanical contraptions. The sharp, jagged ends of each stake were all aimed directly at him.
After a pause, Arata released the thin string in his hand.
Swish! Swish!
Instantly, the crisp click of gears and the whistle of air filled the courtyard. Countless wooden shards shot toward him in a deadly storm.
But in the next heartbeat, Arata moved, his body blurring into an afterimage that sliced through the storm like wind.
Though the stakes were fast, with almost no gaps in their pattern, their trajectories and angles were perfectly clear in his perception.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
This time, unlike when he fought Hyuga Aoi, his palms were wrapped in blue chakra. Each strike cracked the air with a heavy pressure, shattering every stake that came near.
In mere seconds, shattered fragments exploded around him in a haze of dust and resin. His silhouette became ghostly, half-hidden within the smoke like a spirit in the mist.
If Might Guy had seen this scene, he would've been thrilled to the core, blood boiling with excitement.
Although Arata was clearly using the Gentle Fist, the power in his strikes carried a fierce and unyielding force, blending the techniques of the Strong Fist and Gentle Fist into one.
Crack!
Two thick wooden stakes, studded with brutal spikes, shot toward him from opposite sides.
Their speed alone betrayed their destructive power, enough to pierce clean through flesh and bone.
Sensing the danger, Arata didn't move. His closed eyes relaxed, and the corner of his lips curved faintly. His fists tightened, chakra humming like a storm.
"Vacuum Strike!"
He punched forward, raw power bursting forth with no restraint. The shockwave blew away the lingering dust, and the chakra gathered in his fists detached from his body, becoming an invisible mass that crashed into the stakes.
Boom! Boom!
Before they could even reach him, the two stakes exploded midair, disintegrating into fine splinters that hung like white mist.
These wooden targets were designed specifically for Gentle Fist training, dense and resilient enough to withstand 128 strikes unharmed. Yet they were obliterated from a distance.
If those punches had landed on a living person… the result would have been unspeakable.
"Got it."
Arata opened his eyes, a faint smile forming as he read the interface before him. "Finally, something long-range and powerful. No more using Gentle Fist against Susanoo or tailed beasts."
[Taijutsu Skills]
Gentle Fist: Eight Trigrams Thirty-Two Palms (C-rank)
Eight Gates: Gate of Life (Forbidden)
Gentle Fist: One-Strike Body (B-rank)
Vacuum Strike (A-rank)
"By gathering a massive amount of chakra at a single point, this technique releases it all at once, fusing the precision of Gentle Fist with the power of Strong Fist. No matter how durable the enemy's body is, the internal damage reduces them to nothing but blood mist."
"The best part is that it's like the Rasengan: no hand signs, no fixed element. It can be enhanced with wind, fire, lightning, earth, or water chakra. Flexible. Adaptable. And terrifyingly scalable."
"A-rank difficulty, huh…" Arata mused.
Most people thought chakra was like a game's "mana bar"; you use it, then rest to recover. But that was far from the truth.
Except for those like jinchūriki or users of the Yin Seal, chakra couldn't be stored indefinitely; it constantly dissipated. Every use required refining spiritual and physical energy anew.
If your refinement speed couldn't outpace dissipation, you had no talent as a ninja. That difference determined the limits of ordinary shinobi.
Kakashi, for example, always conserved chakra because half of what he refined was devoured by his Sharingan.
Even Naruto, before earning the Nine-Tails' cooperation, had to leave a shadow clone in reserve just to gather natural energy. Jiraiya needed the help of the two elder toads for the same reason.
So, two things defined a ninja's power:
How fast they could refine chakra.
How much chakra their body could hold.
That's why even Edo Tensei shinobi, who technically had "infinite chakra", couldn't all cast the same massive jutsu as Madara Uchiha.
Madara's Fire Release: Great Fire Annihilation, only a B-rank jutsu, required dozens of Water-Style users to counter. The difference came from how much chakra his body could channel and withstand.
In the end, even Sasuke with the Rinnegan couldn't match Naruto's stamina; the latter's Sage Body and Nine-Tails chakra far surpassed him. Their final battle was only even because Sasuke absorbed chakra from all eight other Tailed Beasts.
Refinement speed and chakra capacity, these two traits defined strength when skill was equal.
And while refinement could improve through training, chakra capacity was innate, a gift of one's body.
The body's chakra pathways, like blood vessels carrying life energy, were what made this possible. The stronger and wider they were, the greater the potential.
If most people's chakra flow was a trickling stream, Arata's was a surging river, more powerful even than Naruto's Uzumaki vitality.
That's why the system rated Vacuum Strike as A-rank: it fully drew out the body's natural gifts: rapid refinement, massive capacity, and precise control.
"I wonder if Kaguya's Eighty Gods Vacuum Attack works on the same principle," Arata murmured. "Though with her power, it's probably just… throwing bricks with divine strength."
He glanced around the wrecked courtyard, then sighed. "I'll clean up later."
After all, the morning had been spent training intensely with Might Guy, and the afternoon refining this new taijutsu had drained him completely.
He turned toward the house, eager for rest.
But moments after he entered, a shadow appeared outside the courtyard.
The newcomer's eyes swept over the splintered stakes and blood-stained wood scattered across the ruined lawn. The ground was pitted and torn, clear signs of an overwhelming battle.
"What in the world…"
Frowning, the figure stepped silently through the gate and paused before the door. After a few seconds of hesitation, he reached for the handle.
Bang!
The door suddenly burst outward with explosive force, slamming into his hand. The impact roared like thunder, its power rippling outward as if to crush everything in its path.
"Hmm?"
Reacting instantly, the visitor pressed his palm forward, releasing a burst of Gentle Fist energy to neutralize the attack. The two forces collided and dissolved into stillness, like water absorbing a stone.
Inside, Arata froze mid-strike, realizing who it was.
Click.
The door opened.
And upon seeing the person standing outside, Arata blinked in surprise.
"Lord Hizashi?"