"Makoto, just training with Lady Hinata is enough. There's no need to drag me along."
Inside a forest in Konoha, Neji looked at Hyuga Makoto and spoke in a low voice.
Right now, he was feeling extremely annoyed!
The day after Hyuga Makoto joined the Anbu, he had vanished without a trace. He guessed that Makoto had been assigned some mission.
He had been very worried these past few days. After all, to him, the closest person within the Hyuga clan was Hyuga Makoto.
Finally, after an agonizing week, he received news of Hyuga Makoto's return!
However, while this made him happy, it also made him somewhat annoyed.
He was happy, naturally, because Hyuga Makoto had returned safely.
But he was annoyed because his good big brother actually didn't come to see him!
Still, he didn't overthink it, assuming that Hyuga Makoto just had other matters to attend to.
But he never expected that when he was about to go train, he would actually see Hyuga Makoto bringing Hinata out...
"Alright, you."
Hyuga Makoto also felt a bit guilty. After all, he had genuinely forgotten about Neji.
However, he still reached out and vigorously ruffled Neji's hair.
"I've been exhausted for a week. Also, when are you finally going to call me big brother?"
"That kid Naruto was right after all..."
Neji tried to break free but couldn't do it at all. He could only mutter in a muffled voice.
"You really are a bastard!"
"Neji."
Hyuga Makoto stopped and cracked his knuckles.
"I suddenly feel that in the past, my fists were not fast enough, let alone ruthless enough, so..."
"What are you trying to do?"
Neji subconsciously took a step back. In front of others, he could maintain his aloof demeanor.
But in front of Hyuga Makoto, it was truly difficult to do so.
"I've kept your secret for so long, don't try anything funny!"
"Secret?"
Hinata looked at Neji strangely, and Hyuga Makoto was also full of question marks.
"What secret?"
"About you joining the Anbu."
Neji glanced at Hinata before speaking in a dissatisfied tone.
Hinata was Hyuga Hiashi's daughter after all; she definitely knew about this sort of thing, so he couldn't be bothered to hide it.
However, Hyuga Makoto almost laughed out of pure anger, his knuckles cracking loudly.
Damn it, no wonder there hadn't been a single peep from within the clan. So it was you, kid, setting me up?
"Sure enough, my fists were way too light back then!"
"Brother Makoto..."
At this moment, however, Hinata gently tugged at him and asked timidly.
"Aren't we supposed to be training?"
"Indeed, we still need to train."
Hyuga Makoto nodded, but he didn't lower his fists. Instead, his smile grew even more terrifying.
"You're not allowed to leave, Neji."
"...."
Neji pursed his lips. He didn't want to train with Hinata at all.
Although he could see that Hinata was kindhearted, he deeply hated the Main House!
But facing his good big brother, there was truly nothing he could do.
He could only let out a cold snort before obediently standing in place.
"Today, I'll teach you both something interesting."
Hyuga Makoto cracked his neck before speaking.
"Both of you have learned the Eight Trigrams Thirty-Two Palms. Regardless of how proficient you are, have you noticed anything wrong with it?"
"Wrong?"
Hinata looked a bit bewildered, and Neji frowned as well.
"Is it because it's incomplete and lacks many of the palm strikes?"
"That's not what I mean..."
Hyuga Makoto felt a slight headache coming on. This kid Neji was simply too smart.
As expected of the person from his memories who, relying purely on talent, managed to comprehend the Eight Trigrams Sixty-Four Palms and Rotation—techniques exclusively meant for the Main House.
Furthermore, Neji even evolved the Eight Trigrams Sixty-Four Palms into the Eight Trigrams One Hundred Twenty-Eight Palms. Such talent was truly a rare sight!
"Forget it. Just attack me; it'll be easier for you to understand that way."
"Okay..."
Hinata subconsciously nodded, but suddenly, she noticed Neji swiftly leaping backward!
Only then did she realize that Hyuga Makoto had struck first.
Didn't he tell us to attack him?
Hinata was still a bit dazed, but she quickly charged forward.
But before she could even get close, Hyuga Makoto's second palm strike had already knocked Neji to the ground!
At the same time, Hyuga Makoto moved in a flash and appeared right in front of her. She almost subconsciously threw up a defense.
However, Hyuga Makoto leisurely broke through her defense. Before she could even react, his hand tapped against her shoulder!
"You... you're still exactly the same..."
Neji climbed up from the ground and couldn't help but mutter a curse. He was clearly used to this, but his expression quickly turned serious.
"This attack pattern... I remember you using it against those two Anbu?"
"Brother Makoto, you..."
Hinata had finally realized it as well—Hyuga Makoto's Gentle Fist was completely out of order!
"You have quite a good memory, Neji."
Hyuga Makoto withdrew his hand, crossed his arms over his chest, and smiled.
"This is what I want to teach you: a special way of utilizing the Gentle Fist."
"But, Brother Makoto, the Chakra distribution for every strike in the Eight Trigrams Palms is different. If the sequence is disrupted, it could cause major problems!"
Hinata couldn't help but ask in a low voice. This completely contradicted what her father had taught her.
Neji, however, was much more direct. He asked quietly,
"How did you do it?"
"It's simple. By practicing Chakra control—absolute, extreme control."
Hyuga Makoto glanced at Neji before turning to look at Hinata.
"Hinata, you're right. Following the standard sequence does increase the power with each consecutive strike. But what if you encounter a formidable enemy who thoroughly understands the Hyuga clan?"
"That..."
Hinata hesitated, but Neji immediately understood what Hyuga Makoto meant.
"They would predict your moves. Even if they can't completely evade the attack, they only need to dodge the most fatal strikes."
"Exactly."
Hyuga Makoto nodded at Neji in approval before speaking seriously.
"Unless you are so overwhelmingly strong that even if your opponent knows your moves, they still can't dodge them. But how many people can actually achieve that?"
Hyuga Makoto's words left both of them in silence. Hinata, in particular, felt that even her father would likely struggle to reach such a level.
Neji's eyes, however, lit up slightly. In his view, breaking the sequence of the Gentle Fist was a form of defiance against the Main House in itself!
He was incredibly interested in this kind of power...
"Since you both understand what I mean, let's begin the training."
Hyuga Makoto casually found a spot to sit down, then spoke in a slow, eerie tone.
"This training won't be easy. You'd better mentally prepare yourselves."
"Yes!"
Both Hinata and Neji were incredibly serious; they placed an extraordinary amount of trust in Hyuga Makoto.
However, they would soon experience true suffering...
"Seriously, just climbing a tree is taking you this much effort? Back in the day, I mastered it on my first try."
Hyuga Makoto leaned against a rock, watching Neji and Hinata's disheveled state, and couldn't help but roll his eyes.
In truth, he really wanted to teach them something else.
But unfortunately, that was just how the Hyuga clan was.
Especially when it came to the development of the Byakugan, there were simply no other options!
"Once the Byakugan is awakened, it's basically reached its peak. But if you look at the Uchiha next door..."
The Uchiha's Sharingan progresses from One Tomoe to Three Tomoe, and even evolves into the Mangekyo and the Eternal Mangekyo.
If pushed far enough, they could even awaken the Rinnegan!
The most talented prodigy in the Hyuga was Neji. Yet, in his memories, Neji was incredibly overpowered in the early stages, started falling behind in the middle stages, and by the late stages...
Damn it, he didn't even have a late stage!
"As for the Tenseigan, I'm afraid they don't even meet the basic requirements..."
Hyuga Makoto shook his head, deciding not to dwell on these matters any longer.
Glancing at the two who were still training, he simply activated his Byakugan and began scanning the surroundings.
He hadn't forgotten that his main purpose for coming out here was to find a suitable place to dig a hideout!
"Hmm?"
However, as his gaze swept across a nearby cliff, he suddenly spotted a familiar face.
"Uchiha Shisui?"
His expression turned slightly odd. This guy was waiting for Uchiha Itachi, wasn't he?
Although he hadn't deliberately tried to investigate the Uchiha clan's situation, he knew that the clan was growing increasingly unstable and fanatical.
If everything went as expected, Uchiha Shisui should be preparing to use a method to control Uchiha Fugaku in order to stop the coup.
"But the moment you revealed the power of the Kotoamatsukami, you essentially dug your own grave."
Hyuga Makoto stroked his chin, pondering exactly which day Uchiha Shisui was fated to die.
But right at that moment, his system suddenly flashed...
......