You are a genius my foot!

Arriving deep within the woods, Neji stood with his arms crossed.

"First of all, I must state that I do not view you as an enemy. I merely consider you a rival whom I must surpass, nothing more."

"Competition is a good thing. Only through mutual competition can everyone grow faster."

Chiba waved a hand. "I don't regard you as an enemy either, and I didn't ask you here to talk about this. I'm here to make a deal with you."

"A deal?"

Neji was stunned.

Along the path from the outskirts into the woods, he had thought of countless things, his mind endlessly tangled as he agonized over how to explain himself.

And yet.

The other party was only interested in a trade?

"I want you to help me verify pressure point locations and precise striking, and the price is that I will teach you a technique you will certainly find interesting."

Chiba smiled faintly.

"A technique I would definitely find interesting?"

Neji frowned.

A technique that could interest him, unless it was—

"That's right. In a sense, you could consider it a form of the Gentle Fist, one that I've recently developed."

"The Gentle Fist? Impossible!"

Neji's face went cold, utterly disbelieving.

In his view, apart from the Hyuga clan, no one could possibly master the Gentle Fist.

"Simply put, it looks like this."

Chiba's eyes sharpened as he struck a nearby tree trunk with his palm.

Thud!

The trunk emitted a muffled sound.

Neji activated his Byakugan, and then, an expression of shock surfaced on his face.

On the surface of the tree trunk, there was merely a pinprick-sized hole, but the internal fibers were fractured and chaotic, as though they had been torn apart by a whirlpool.

This was the effect of a strike delivered to a tree.

If applied to a human body, internal organs and bones would undoubtedly sustain devastating damage.

What a terrifying technique!

He remained silent for a long time, only looking at Chiba after several seconds.

"Why?"

"Huh?"

"Why are you able to reach this level? Clearly, you're just a commoner, your destiny even—"

Neji muttered incoherently to himself.

That's right, he truly hadn't regarded Chiba as an enemy, merely as an anomaly of fate, a rival along his path.

Yet.

The other party kept popping up from time to time to shatter his worldview.

It had been so before.

And it was so now.

He simply could not understand.

"Destiny? Uh, if you submit to destiny, why even bother training hard?"

Chiba was somewhat baffled.

"Because I—"

"You probably want to say you're destined to be a genius, but no matter how much of a genius you are, don't you still have to train hard?"

Chiba interrupted him, then waved a hand. "Alright, I have no desire to convince you; that's childish behavior. Let's get back to our deal."

***

"..."

Neji remained silent.

After a long while, he slowly let out a breath.

"You want to learn how to strike pressure points? But you can't see them—how can you hit them?"

"I can roughly judge their locations. Besides, I want to test something," Chiba said.

"Though I don't believe it... go ahead and try."

Neji looked exceptionally fierce, veins bulging around his temples.

That was just how the Byakugan looked.

It had been quite startling the first time he saw it, but Chiba was entirely used to it now.

Pondering for a moment, he extended a finger and pressed down on a specific spot.

"How's that?"

"You! Did you really know?"

Neji was initially somewhat incredulous, but considering that the other party had even invented a variation of the Gentle Fist, mere pressure point striking didn't seem all that remarkable in comparison.

"It seems this pressure point is correct, and it doesn't shift based on age. What about this spot?"

Chiba pressed toward an acupoint on the abdomen.

" shifted a bit to the right."

" Shifted to the left."

" Up—"

Neji called out the adjustments time and time again, eventually resorting to pointing to his own body to show Chiba the exact coordinates.

He truly was a genius.

Even among members of the宗家 (main branch), a Byakugan user at his age couldn't necessarily perceive pressure points this clearly, yet Neji was already capable of it.

With his assistance, Chiba quickly mapped out the system of acupoints.

After a moment of thought, he said, "I'll try another technique now. Observe the effects."

"Alright."

Neji nodded.

The next moment, Chiba's fingers flicked, and strands of chakra threads flew from his fingertips.

These threads hadn't reached the level of a cutting blade; rather, they were densely packed and highly condensed, numbering several dozens all at once.

They struck all over Neji's body.

Before long, multiple pressure points across Neji's frame were assaulted, with several acupoints being simultaneously besieged by a dozen or so threads.

In an instant, eight of his acupoints were sealed.

"You can use threads to strike pressure points?"

Neji was struck dumb with shock on the spot.

He finally understood Chiba's train of thought.

Even if certain acupoints couldn't be precisely pinpointed, their general vicinity could be established, and then—

"Is it that difficult? I find it strange instead. With the innate advantage of your Byakugan, why do you cling to ancient methods and refuse to innovate?"

Chiba said calmly.

Following that, he withdrew the threads. "Thank you for your help."

"..."

Neji was furious. Although he despised the main branch, deep down he still believed the Byakugan was supreme.

Yet.

When he thought carefully about it, he could find no grounds for rebuttal.

For so many years, the Gentle Fist practiced by the Hyuga clan had remained entirely unchanged, without the slightest evolution.

He clenched his fists, a trace of reluctance lingering in the depths of his heart.

***

Chiba turned to leave, but suddenly stopped. "Right, I demonstrated that once just now. Did you catch it?"

"..."

Neji kept a gloomy expression, a flush rising across his handsome face.

"Watch the principle again; it's actually quite simple. You first force highly condensed chakra into the target, and then manipulate that chakra to disperse and rotate."

Chiba explained step by step while refining chakra in his palm.

Neji watched through to the end, then nodded and said, "I've got it."

"Good, try it out."

Chiba nodded.

Neji's eyes sharpened as he simulated the process in his mind, then swiftly delivered a palm strike...

Boom!

The chakra detonated from within.

Instantly, a look of awkwardness appeared on his face.

"Practice it more. If it doesn't work out, you can take a secondary approach, just like you did just now—directly detonating the chakra you've forced inside."

Chiba proved to be quite patient.

Ultimately, however, he couldn't help muttering a complaint: "With all your Hyuga clan's Two Trigrams, Four Trigrams, Eight Trigrams... couldn't you optimize the destructive power just a little?"

"I—"

Neji's knuckles turned white, yet he found himself entirely unable to refute the claim.

It was infuriating.

"Alright, we'll cooperate again if the opportunity arises."

Chiba waved a hand and walked back toward Rock Lee and the others.

Neji practiced the technique two or three times, inevitably feeling a bit discouraged.

You call yourself a genius?!

After brooding for a little while, he carefully pondered the mechanics, suddenly grasping Chiba's true intention.

The original version was far too difficult, requiring at least an A-plus learning difficulty.

As a member of the Hyuga clan, he didn't strictly need to master it completely in its exact form.

He only needed to absorb the core concept of the technique and adapt it into his own style.

For instance—

Integrating the effects of chakra condensation and detonation into the Eight Trigrams Palms.

Neji rapidly adjusted his strategy.

Meanwhile, Chiba was outside mentoring Rock Lee and the others. He had to admit that Lee and Mami were far more difficult to teach than Neji.

Their comprehension lagged behind by more than just a little.

Fortunately, he wouldn't need to coach them for long; Might Guy should probably be finished at the hospital by afternoon.

He climbed up into a tree and began writing his report.

By evening, he led Neji and the others to the medical ward to check on Might Guy, while Chiba himself headed straight for the Hokage's Office to submit his reports.

These two documents were of vital importance.

Especially the one concerning the Gentle Fist.

Chiba harbored a small ambition—

He intended to use this technique to pry open the doors of the Hyuga clan.

Setting aside their conservative, rigid nature as a noble clan, their foundation in theoretical knowledge and techniques was undeniably deep.

Even if he couldn't trade for their hidden techniques, it would at least provide him with useful leverage.