Evening had settled over Konoha in peace.
The dusky sky draped over the rooftops like a gray cloak, casting long shadows over the village. On the mountain, the faces of the four Hokage loomed like silent giants, their stone gazes steady over a land always teetering on the edge of turbulence.
At that moment, in the heart of a secluded courtyard, Hyuga Sho stood alone.
He wore a white training gi, eyes closed, motionless at the center of the wide-open space.
All around him, fragments of sharpened wooden stakes were suspended mid-air by contraptions, each one aimed precisely at his body.
A moment later, Sho released the trigger cord in his hand.
Swish! Swish!
In a blur of motion and mechanical clicks, a storm of wooden shards launched like a volley of arrows. The air filled with sharp, howling winds as the wooden stakes rained down on him from all directions.
And yet, Sho moved.
His body vanished in a flash, a streak of movement charging straight toward the incoming barrage.
Despite their speed and lack of openings, Sho could see every stake's path and angle with crystal clarity.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
This time, unlike the simple palm techniques he had used against Aoi, both of Sho's hands surged with visible blue chakra. His arms turned to blurs, each strike laced with wind pressure and precise force.
In an instant, wooden stakes exploded into dust the moment they were struck, detonating midair in a burst of debris that veiled Sho's silhouette like a phantom in smoke.
If Might Guy were here to witness this, he would've been overcome with emotion.
Because although Sho was clearly using the Gentle Fist, the overwhelming force behind it felt bold and aggressive, blending the finesse of Gentle Fist with the power of Strong Fist.
Zzz!
Two of the largest, jagged stakes suddenly shot toward him from opposite sides.
Their velocity alone was terrifying, carrying enough kinetic energy to pierce through flesh and bone.
Sensing the danger, Sho didn't move.
His feet remained rooted, his expression calm.
Instead, his lips curved upward. His fists clenched with a humming resonance.
"Air Strike!"
He lashed out both fists.
A thunderous force surged from his body. The dust surrounding him scattered like a cyclone, and invisible chakra condensed around his fists.
The blasts left his body and met the stakes midair, three meters away.
Boom! Boom!
The two massive stakes exploded in mid-flight, disintegrating into a cloud of sawdust. It wasn't the surface that broke, it was internal destruction. The chakra had pierced inside before erupting outward.
These weren't ordinary wooden stakes either. They were specially designed for Gentle Fist training, capable of withstanding a full barrage of 128 Palms without splintering.
Yet now, Sho had shattered them from afar.
If those fists had landed on a human…
"It worked."
Sho opened his eyes and checked the system panel with a smile.
"Finally, a long-range, high-power taijutsu. No more poking Susanoo or Tailed Beasts with Gentle Fist."
[Taijutsu: Gentle Fist – Eight Trigrams Thirty-Two Palms (C-Rank), Eight Gates – Gate of Life (Forbidden), Gentle Fist – One-Strike Form (B-Rank), Air Strike (A-Rank)]
Gather chakra into one point in the body and release it in a single, devastating burst combining the penetrating force of Gentle Fist with the impact of Strong Fist. No matter how durable the opponent, the attack tears them apart from the inside out.
Best of all, it was an attribute-free technique, like the Rasengan. No hand seals required. It could be enhanced with elemental chakra, Wind, Fire, Lightning, Earth, or Water, making it highly versatile and with vast potential.
"A-Rank difficulty, huh?" Sho mused.
To many, chakra was like mana in a video game, used as needed during battle.
But in reality, unless you were a Jinchuriki or had Yin Seal mastery, chakra couldn't be stored long-term. It would continuously dissipate.
Every use of chakra required real-time extraction from spiritual and physical energy. If your extraction speed couldn't match the loss rate, you lacked talent.
That's why most ordinary ninjas had limits.
Even Kakashi, for all his skill, was notoriously frugal with chakra, half of it constantly drained by his Sharingan, which worsened his already mediocre reserves.
Naruto, before taming the Nine-Tails, had to prepare shadow clones in advance to gather natural energy for Sage Mode. Jiraiya needed the help of two toads just to maintain it.
Even Edo Tensei resurrected ninja had "infinite" chakra in theory, yet most couldn't replicate Uchiha Madara's overwhelming power.
Take Madara's Fire Style: Majestic Destroyer Flame, it was only B-Rank in complexity. Yet its sheer scale required a coordinated water barrier from dozens of Mist ninja to stop.
That was because Madara's special body could house massive chakra, letting him fuel even simple jutsu with absurd power.
This is why Sasuke, even with the Rinnegan, struggled with endurance compared to Naruto, who had the Six Paths body and the Nine-Tails. Their final battle was proof: Sasuke needed chakra from the other Tailed Beasts just to keep pace.
So chakra extraction rate and capacity determined a ninja's practical power.
Extraction could be trained.
Capacity? That was talent.
And both were governed by the body's chakra network, a system of 361 tenketsu and chakra pathways akin to blood vessels.
Most people's networks were trickling brooks.
Sho's were surging rivers.
In this, he surpassed even Naruto of the Uzumaki Clan.
The system had labeled this technique as A-Rank because Sho was pushing the limits of his body's gifts, lightning-fast chakra extraction, massive chakra reserves, and perfect control.
"I wonder if Otsutsuki Kaguya's 'Eighty Gods Vacuum Fist' works on the same principle…"
He chuckled.
"With her natural talent, it probably was just some casual 'brick-throwing with chakra.'"
Sho swept the dusty courtyard with his gaze.
After a pause, he decided not to clean up.
He turned and headed back inside.
Training with Guy all morning, then exhausting himself developing this new technique, he needed rest.
But just as he entered the house, a shadow appeared outside the courtyard.
The newcomer looked around, at the scattered fragments of wood, the splintered stakes, the battered lawn, and even some bloodstains that hadn't dried.
His heart skipped a beat.
What… happened here?
Frowning, the figure crept silently into the yard.
He paused at the doorway for a few seconds, then reached for the handle.
Bang!
The door suddenly slammed open from the inside with explosive force.
It was enough to rattle the entire frame. The force surged through the handle like a shockwave.
It felt like a killing blow, meant to crush him or flood his body with raw chakra.
"…Hmm?"
The man's eyes narrowed. He instinctively responded, his palm pressing against the wood as he channeled chakra through the Gentle Fist.
Two opposing forces collided and dissolved into nothing, like ripples canceling each other in water.
Inside the house, Sho paused.
He recognized the signature.
Click.
The door opened fully.
Sho blinked, genuinely surprised to see who was standing there.
"Lord Hiashi?"