In the middle section of the nameless forest,
Hyuga Yu gazed coldly at the Mist ninja Ao and his group who had appeared before Hyuga Natsu seven kilometers away, as well as Hyuga Genko standing beside Natsu.
He didn't raise his bow to shoot, nor did he rashly approach.
Ao had been able to suddenly appear before Hyuga Natsu, who possessed the Byakugan, because he had used the same method as Kidomaru—circling around to approach via the branch family Byakugan's one-degree blind spot.
Information about this one-degree blind spot wasn't difficult to obtain. Anyone with even a basic understanding of the Hyuga Clan's intelligence would know that most branch family members had their blind spot directly behind their head.
The root cause of this situation was that Hyuga Genko, a member of the main family, had not used his 360-degree Byakugan without blind spots from start to finish. Even after the ambush by the Seven Ninja Swordsmen of the Mist, the chakra in his meridians remained at full capacity to this very moment.
It was a massive amount of chakra, even greater than that of a typical jonin. (Approximately 7 units of spiritual energy, 1.5 Kakashi units)
This scene once again confirmed that Hyuga Genko was not a qualified ninja.
He would rather risk being caught in a visual blind spot than personally gather intelligence crucial to his own survival, instead prioritizing the consumption of the branch family's chakra.
Throughout this entire incident, he only cared about his own life. But the more he valued his own survival, the more his decisions pushed him toward the edge of a cliff.
However, fortunately,
Seeing Hyuga Genko act this way caused Hyuga Yu to completely discard the burden in his heart.
At this moment,
Hyuga Yu stood in place, hung his bow on a nearby tree branch, bit his finger, and pressed it onto the scroll marked with the character for "Medicine" that he had pulled out.
"Poof!"
As smoke billowed and dispersed,
A thick notebook bristling with countless bookmarks appeared on the "Medicine" scroll.
This was a massive notebook that shouldn't be in the possession of a genin of Hyuga Yu's level. It was also the true achievement of Hyuga Yu's seven years of part-time study at Konoha Hospital since enrolling at age six.
It cataloged nearly fifty different medical ninjutsu techniques of various levels.
D-rank Chakra Healing Technique, Dead Fish Resuscitation Technique...
C-rank Epidermal Suture Technique, Bone Alignment Technique, Tracheal Intubation Technique...
B-rank Delicate Illness Extraction Technique, Meridian Reconstruction Technique, Tendon Suture Technique, Organ Replacement Technique...
A-rank Mystical Palm Technique, Chakra Scalpel.
It could be said that half of Konoha's medical ninjutsu was essentially contained within this notebook.
Within the notebook, the records of D, C, and B-rank medical ninjutsu were extremely detailed. Not only did they include Hyuga Yu's thoroughly summarized principles, activation methods, application possibilities, and healing effects on patients, but they were even accompanied by CT scans, tree diagrams, and other images for supplementary evidence.
These were all the fruits of Hyuga Yu's seven years of copying techniques with his Byakugan!
That's right—
The Byakugan could also copy ninjutsu.
Compared to the Sharingan, the Byakugan's perspective of chakra, meridians, and even the human body was far clearer. Theoretically, copying techniques with the Byakugan was feasible.
The key limitation preventing the Byakugan from copying ninjutsu was that it lacked the Sharingan's dynamic visual acuity and bullet-time perception.
Ninja typically released ninjutsu, including hand seal formation, within mere seconds. In such a brief window, the Byakugan simply couldn't track and detect the specific flow of chakra.
However, there was one type of ninjutsu that was an exception—
Medical ninjutsu.
Medical ninjutsu didn't pursue swift technique execution but rather the precision of the result. Furthermore, medical ninjutsu generally took five minutes to several dozen minutes to use, at minimum. High-level techniques like the A-rank Healing Resuscitation Technique required senior medical team members to rotate in shifts, with surgeries lasting several hours being entirely commonplace.
Under these circumstances, as a member of the Hyuga Clan with excellent chakra control who had cultivated the field of medical ninjutsu for seven years, Hyuga Yu could already be considered half an expert.
However,
For the vast majority of medical ninjutsu in this notebook, Hyuga Yu had only understood the principles but couldn't actually use them.
What still limited him was the issue of chakra quantity.
Medical ninjutsu also required large amounts of chakra. Most medical ninjutsu demanded a minimum chakra quantity at the spiritual energy level 4, otherwise one couldn't sustain the consumption of an entire surgery.
Returning to the main topic,
This thick notebook recorded two A-rank medical ninjutsu that Hyuga Yu had specifically copied:
[Mystical Palm Technique], and [Chakra Scalpel].
Hyuga Yu flipped the notebook to the page recording the activation method for the [Chakra Scalpel].
This was one of three A-rank medical ninjutsu that senior medical team members were required to master. It concentrated chakra in the hand to use as a blade, allowing internal cutting within a target's body without external injury, and could extend to any length. Likewise, this medical ninjutsu could be used as a weapon, though that required a certain level of medical knowledge as a prerequisite.
The condition for using it was possessing at least spiritual energy level 4 chakra quantity. To skillfully employ it in combat to achieve effects like Yakushi Kabuto's required at least spiritual energy level 6 chakra quantity.
Hyuga Yu only had spiritual energy level 2 chakra, and moreover, this chakra had already been mostly consumed in the previous battle.
But fortunately, the Parasitic Giant Insects provided by Aburame Ryōma temporarily gave Hyuga Yu another chakra source!
This would allow Hyuga Yu to complete ahead of schedule certain concepts that had only existed in his mind.
At this moment,
Hyuga Yu extracted a large amount of chakra from the Parasitic Giant Insects in his abdomen. Following the steps recorded in the notebook, he released chakra from several acupoints in his hand, gathering it along his meridians to his palm.
Then,
A pale blue, crystal-clear thin blade appeared in his hand.
Chakra Scalpel—successfully mastered on the first attempt!
But this was only the beginning!
Controlling a Chakra Scalpel that couldn't be used in actual combat wouldn't allow Hyuga Yu to rapidly advance his strength. This technique was merely a prerequisite in the system Hyuga Yu was constructing.
At this moment, a flash of ruthlessness crossed Hyuga Yu's eyes.
Without hesitation, he raised his palm wrapped in the pale blue blade and stabbed it toward his own forehead!
Within the human body existed eight apertures, corresponding to the eight nodes that limited the body's chakra—the Eight Gates.
These eight gates were:
Gate of Opening, Gate of Healing, Gate of Life, Gate of Pain, Gate of Limit, Gate of View, Gate of Wonder, and Gate of Death.
Physical combat specialists who had undergone overload training to strengthen their body's adaptability could open these apertures one by one to obtain power surpassing human limits. Those who fully opened all eight gates could even obtain power dozens of times greater than a Kage.
Regrettably, Hyuga Yu was not the type of hardworking genius that the future Might Guy spoke of. His taijutsu talent was so poor that even the eternal genin Might Duy would shake his head upon seeing it. So even though he had studied under Might Duy for six years, and despite Duy's unreserved teaching of the first three gates of the Eight Gates technique, Hyuga Yu still couldn't open even a single gate.
However,
As long as something was a technique, it had flaws.
As long as something was a technique, the possibility existed to break through it!
Hyuga Yu's expression twisted slightly as he widened his Byakugan, veins bulging, and swung his palm!
The first strike of the Chakra Scalpel—
Hyuga Yu slashed toward the [Gate of Opening] located at the core region of his brain!
By severing the chakra meridians in his brain that obstructed Hyuga Yu from opening the Gate of Opening, and using Byakugan and chakra to perform the B-rank medical ninjutsu [Meridian Reconstruction Technique] within his brain to serve as a temporary pathway connecting to the Gate of Opening—
"Eight Gates: First Gate, Gate of Opening, open!"
————
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