Konoha at dusk was peaceful. The night sky draped over the buildings like a gray cloak. The four faces of the Hokage Rock, like emaciated giants, calmly watched over this land rife with undercurrents.
Within a courtyard, Hyuga Kawa, clad in white training attire, stood quietly in the center of the spacious yard, eyes closed. Around him, various broken wooden stakes were suspended in mid-air by mechanical devices, their sharp, pointed ends all aimed directly at him.
A moment later, he gently released the thin rope connecting the devices in his hand.
Swish! Swish!
Instantly, the crisp click of mechanisms closing and sharp whooshing sounds filled the entire courtyard. The impossibly sharp wooden stakes, like a torrential downpour, formed a barrage. But in the next moment, Hyuga Kawa moved, his figure incredibly swift. He became a blur, accompanied by the sound of rushing wind, actively meeting the incoming stakes.
Although the stakes were extremely fast and left almost no blind spots, their trajectories and angles were crystal clear in his perception.
Bang, bang, bang!!
Unlike the simple maneuvers he used against Hyuga Aoi, Hyuga Kawa's palms were now enveloped in blue chakra. His two arms became blurs, bursting forth with forceful wind pressure. In the blink of an eye, the struck stakes successively burst from within, turning into continuous clouds of dust that exploded around him, making his figure hazy like a ghost in smoke.
If Might Guy were here to witness this, he would undoubtedly feel his blood boil with excitement. This was because Hyuga Kawa was clearly using Gentle Fist, yet there was a direct, dominant force infused within, combining the power-release techniques of both Strong Fist and Gentle Fist.
Tsk!
Finally, two large, fiercely spiked wooden stakes shot towards Kawa from different angles. Their visible speed symbolized powerful kinetic energy, enough to pierce through a flesh-and-blood body.
Seemingly sensing something, Hyuga Kawa stood still, his feet unmoved. A grin gradually spread across his closed-eyed face, and his palms suddenly clenched into humming fists.
"Vacuum Palm!"
He punched out, his ruthless intent unleashed without reservation. The surrounding dust was blown away, and the chakra concentrated in his hands became an invisible, tangible force, detaching from his body and slamming towards the stakes.
Bang! Bang!
Before the two stakes could even approach Hyuga Kawa, they were blasted into an incredibly fine 'mist' three meters away, as if force had been driven into the stakes, causing them to explode from within.
This type of wood was specially designed for Gentle Fist training, exceptionally tough both inside and out, capable of withstanding the Sixty-Four Palms without damage. Yet, it was now exploded by Kawa from a distance.
If these two punches hadn't hit wooden stakes, but rather living beings...
"It's done."
Hyuga Kawa opened his eyes, looking at the panel before him, and chuckled. "Finally, I have a long-range and offensive Nintaijutsu. From now on, I won't need to use Gentle Fist against Susanoo and Tailed Beasts."
[Taijutsu: Gentle Fist Style: Eighty-Trigrams Thirty-Two Palms (C-rank), Eight Gates Released Formation: Gate of Opening (Forbidden Jutsu), Gentle Fist Style: One-Hit Body (B-rank), Vacuum Palm (A-rank)]
Vacuum Palm: Concentrating a large amount of chakra into a specific part of the body, then releasing it all at once with the penetrating force of both Gentle Fist and Strong Fist. No matter how tough an enemy's physique is, it can be pulverized into a bloody mist from the vulnerable interior of their body. Most importantly, this technique, like the Rasengan, is an un-attributed, non-hand-sign jutsu. It can be combined with chakra nature transformations, incorporating Wind, Fire, Lightning, Earth, and Water attributes. Its versatility and practicality are extremely high, giving it immense potential.
"An A-rank learning difficulty?" Hyuga Kawa's expression was thoughtful.
Perhaps many people view "chakra capacity" like "mana" in a game, used only when fighting. But in reality, with the exception of users of jutsu like the Yin Seal and Jinchuriki, chakra cannot be stored indefinitely within the body; it constantly dissipates.
Each time chakra is used, it must be refined through spiritual and physical energy. If the refinement speed cannot keep up with the dissipation speed, it means one lacks ninja talent.
This is also one of the main factors determining the strength of most regular ninjas. Kakashi always carefully manages his chakra because half of the chakra he refines has to be fed to his Sharingan, exacerbating his already limited chakra refinement speed.
In the original work, before Naruto gained the Nine-Tails' recognition and assistance, he always needed to prepare a shadow clone in advance to gather chakra and natural energy before using Sage Mode.
Jiraiya, of course, relied on the two frogs on his shoulders for assistance. Beyond having a refinement speed faster than dissipation, the upper limit of chakra that can be contained within the body is another decisive factor, determining the power and scale of a ninja's jutsu.
For example, why couldn't others, despite being Edo Tensei users with essentially infinite chakra, use large-scale fire jutsu like Uchiha Madara? Fire Style: Great Fire Annihilation is merely a B-rank Fire Style ninjutsu in terms of learning difficulty.
Yet, in Uchiha Madara's hands, it required the Allied Shinobi Forces to exhaust dozens of Mist Village ninjas using Water Release: Water Formation Wall simultaneously to defend against it. This was because Uchiha Madara's specially crafted body could hold more chakra, and the power and scale of ninjutsu used with more chakra were naturally greater.
Therefore, at the end, Sasuke, with his Sage Eyes, was clearly inferior to Naruto, who possessed Sage Body and the Nine-Tails, in terms of endurance. In the battle at the Valley of the End, he only managed to engage Naruto in a war of attrition after absorbing the chakra of the other eight Tailed Beasts.
The speed of chakra refinement and the upper limit of chakra storage. These two points are the main factors determining a ninja's strength when their ninjutsu skill levels are similar. The former might improve through later training, but the latter is an innate "talent."
What determines these two points is the body's "chakra pathway system," which, like blood flowing through veins, is distributed throughout the body.
The channels that allow chakra to reach all corners of the body are called meridians, and together with the 361 chakra points, they are referred to as the "chakra pathway system."
If most people's meridians were merely "small streams" with gently flowing water, Hyuga Kawa's body's meridians were like surging rivers, even more powerful in this regard than Naruto Uzumaki, a member of the Uzumaki clan.
The system judging this technique as A-rank difficulty likely means that he has fully utilized the talent of this body, including extremely fast chakra refinement speed, a high chakra capacity limit, and incredibly strong chakra control...
"I wonder if Otsutsuki Kaguya's 'Eighty Gods Vacuum Attack' operates on the same principle. But with the talent of her body, the Eighty Gods Vacuum Attack should have been effortless for her, just pure overwhelming power."
Hyuga Kawa reined in his wandering thoughts and glanced up at the messy courtyard. After a moment of hesitation, he decided not to clean up and turned to walk into the house. After a high-intensity training session with Might Guy all morning, and then exhausting himself developing Nintaijutsu in the afternoon, all he wanted now was to go back and get some good rest.
However, not long after he entered the house, a figure appeared outside the courtyard. The newcomer looked at the scattered wood chips and debris in the courtyard. The surrounding wooden stakes were all shattered, and the neatly tended lawn was battered and pitted. Some remnants of the wooden stakes still bore fresh bloodstains, causing him to feel a surge of shock.
What happened here?
The newcomer frowned and silently entered the courtyard, standing by the door for a few seconds before deciding to open it. Just as his hand touched the doorknob.
Bang!
The door suddenly burst open from the inside out. The force was so immense that it created a loud noise, spreading along the doorknob. It was as if it intended to smash the newcomer into pieces, scattering him as fertilizer on the lawn, or perhaps to surge into his body.
"Hm?"
The newcomer was startled. His hand on the doorknob instinctively pressed forward against the door panel, and he instantly exerted force, unleashing the power of Gentle Fist, barely managing to counteract the surging force. All the power melted away like a clay ox entering the sea, as if it had been dissolved by two opposing forces.
Hyuga Kawa in the room stopped, seemingly realizing who the newcomer was.
Click.
The door opened. Seeing the face of the figure outside the door, Hyuga Kawa seemed to be startled as well.
"Lord Hizashi?"