"Kakashi-sensei? You came because…"
"I'm here for you," Kakashi sighed helplessly. "The Chūnin Exams are coming up. You haven't forgotten because you're… too busy, right?"
Yagyu Souma rubbed his neck.
Alright, he had been busy—
so busy that even Hyūga Hiashi had come looking for him earlier, and Souma still hadn't found time to visit the Hyūga compound.
At this rate, would he even make it to the Chūnin rank?
Honestly…
Kakashi felt tricked.
"No, I haven't forgotten. I'm just… extremely busy lately."
And this is all part of training!
Souma grumbled inwardly.
Kakashi handed him a form.
"Here's the application."
Souma filled it out quickly. Just as he was about to hand it back, he looked up.
"Right—Kakashi-sensei, you're heading to the Hokage next, aren't you?"
"Yeah. Why?"
"Could you take this along for me? Thank you!"
Souma placed a scroll into Kakashi's hand.
Kakashi gave him a dead-fish stare, opened the scroll only after getting silent permission, and read it.
Oh?
The Telescope Technique?
Kakashi's eyes immediately sharpened as he scanned the contents carefully.
Combining the technique with glasses lenses, instead of a crystal ball?
Portable. Field-ready.
Much more practical than a giant orb.
And linking it to earth clones and water clones was genius—
Nobody understood their own chakra signature better than the user, and clone chakra was far easier to track and locate.
Most importantly—
Cost-effective.
Several earth clones probably used less chakra than a single shadow clone.
Peak efficiency.
"This is a good direction," Kakashi nodded. "Actually, you could even embed explosive tags into the clones."
Souma's eyes lit up.
"As expected of Kakashi-sensei!"
"I'll look it over for you."
"Then I'll trouble you with it."
When it came to barrier sealing or fuinjutsu, Kakashi wasn't a top-tier expert.
But for ninjutsu? Souma trusted him completely.
After all—
He was the Copy Ninja.
Leaving things in his hands felt safe.
After sharing his own schedule, Souma left the Hokage building.
He was heading toward the Hyūga clan.
Hiashi had visited before, but Souma had been tied up with his collaboration with Fire Temple's Dilu at the time.
Later, even more things piled up until the meeting kept getting pushed aside.
But Souma was about to leave for the Chūnin Exams.
If he didn't visit now, even Hiashi's good temper might run out.
The Hyūga compound wasn't hard to find.
A short walk from the Hokage Tower, past a main street, and the expansive white walls came into view.
"Hold on—are you…?"
"I'm Yagyu Souma. Hiashi-sama visited earlier and asked to speak with me."
The guard bowed immediately, stepping aside.
"The clan head mentioned you. Please follow me."
"Thank you."
The Hyūga estate was vast.
Upon entering, Souma saw a courtyard filled with wooden dummies—clearly a space for Gentle Fist training.
And this was only the main family's side.
The branch family's training grounds were likely even larger.
Souma quietly observed.
The Hyūga had grown bigger and stronger over decades—
their clan structure had played a critical role.
But…
strength came with weaknesses too.
A fortress of order and tradition protected them—
but also dulled their fighting edge.
"Up ahead is where the clan head trains. Clan Head—"
"Let Souma-kun come in."
"Yes!"
The guard slid the door open.
Souma dipped his head and stepped inside.
A small girl stood in the room, wiping sweat from her forehead, multiple palm marks across her arms.
It seemed Hiashi had been instructing her.
Hiashi looked back and smiled.
"This is my daughter, Hanabi."
"Yagyu Souma," he greeted.
Hanabi studied him curiously.
This is the famous Yagyu Souma?
He didn't look special to her eyes.
"Hanabi, continue your training. Souma and I have matters to discuss."
"Yes, Father."
She bowed and slipped out.
Hiashi wiped sweat from his hands and fixed his appearance before sitting down.
"Souma-kun, I've wanted to speak with you, but I've heard you've been unusually busy."
"Yeah. After finishing things at the Fire Temple, there were the chakra tools, then the Aburame situation…"
Not to mention—
He'd been sustaining a clone nonstop.
If not for recent boosts from the Bodhi seed, he'd probably have collapsed already.
"Everyone values you greatly," Hiashi said, inviting Souma to sit and pour him tea.
Souma took a sip.
The fragrance lingered on his tongue, mellow and refined.
This was definitely high-grade tea.
He'd never tasted anything this exquisite in Konoha before.
"I've looked into the Gentle Fist variation you created. It's quite an ingenious concept."
"Since most people can't see chakra pathways or tenketsu, I simply aimed for the internal organs directly," Souma explained. "Just a convenient workaround."
Hiashi shook his head.
"No—good is good. There is no 'workaround' in innovation. The Hyūga clan has been stagnant for many years. In the end, it was an outsider who pushed Gentle Fist forward."
Souma had no reply.
After a pause, he said lightly, "Just a coincidence."
"Hahaha, no need to comfort me. I'm fully aware of Hyūga's problem."
Hiashi laughed softly, then got to the point.
"Neji… you guided him, didn't you?"
Ah.
That explained it.
No wonder the Hyūga didn't react immediately.
But then suddenly Hiashi sought him out—
Neji's improvement had been noticed.
Souma didn't hide it.
"Yes. I injured Guy-sensei during an experiment once, and at the time he was troubled about training Neji, so I gave a few pointers."
"Thanks to the two of you, that child finally grew past his plateau."
Hiashi smiled gently.
"And in Neji, I saw something else—the shortcomings of our Gentle Fist."
"When Gentle Fist faces extremely tough defenses—ones that can't be pierced—it becomes… insufficient."
Souma gave an honest assessment.
Hiashi nodded. "Exactly. Which is why I wish to propose cooperation. A trade between our clan's secret techniques."
With that, he stood and retrieved a document from the inner room.
"Here are the terms."
Souma scanned it carefully.
The Hyūga wanted to exchange Gentle Fist: Spiral, and in return they would offer accumulated Gentle Fist knowledge.
It was a straightforward, sincere offer.
Souma considered for a moment.
"I'd like to add one more condition."
"Oh?"
"I want detailed information on chakra pathways and tenketsu. In exchange, I'll offer the Chakra Needle technique."
Souma looked up.
Hiashi did not immediately answer.
But his silence already said enough.
"You think it's not worth it?" Souma asked calmly.
"As an elder, I admire you. But as a clan head, I cannot make such a decision lightly."
Ah.
Souma understood instantly.
From Hiashi's perspective, a small technique that condensed chakra into a needle didn't seem worth trading valuable internal clan knowledge for.
But—
That was the mindset of someone who didn't see the full picture.
"Just as I said earlier," Souma continued, "the Hyūga's biggest weakness is dealing with unbreakable defenses. Chakra Needles are an excellent supplemental tool."
He took another sip of tea, letting the warmth open his throat.
"You might want to test it in that direction."
Advance Chapters available on Patreon
patreon.com/pikachu614