Training and The Resolve

The Academy was over, and it was already midday. Neji immediately returned home after it finished. Those lectures were pretty much already all familiar to him, so securing first placements won't be a problem in the future. He feels like it's inefficient to squander his time like that every day, so he will try and think of some kind of training method he could practice while those lectures went on next.

After preparing a little, it was now time for the promised lesson by Hiashi for himself and Hinata.

Soon, he arrived at the main and the largest training ground inside their whole great compound.

Surprisingly, even his "grandpa" was there standing on the side, while some other main branch elders watched from the surrounding terraces as he came towards Hiashi and Hinata at the center.

"Lord Patriarch, Lady Hinata!", Neji immediately greeted them and bowed down politely. The older-looking Hyuga on the side, who was his nominal grandfather, of this life, nodded in satisfaction after seeing this from the side. Neji was always respectful and well-behaved in this universe, never questioning anything, always obediently listening, and showing zero malice towards weaker Hinata.

He was just slightly cold, introverted, and never spoke more than was necessary, with was also understandable after all that he went through in the past. As for him plotting against them?

Not to mention the uncrackable and mysterious, ancient power of the curse mark, which was undefeatable and could be activated with a simple hand seal on every branch member, in their Byakugan eyes vision range, by the elders of the main branch, or the clan head, if they wanted.

Some of the elders of the main branch have a vision eyesight range of at least a few kilometers.

There was not a single person, in the entire history of the Hyuga clan, from the moment that mythical curse mark came into existence, who managed to escape their fate. Therefore, they presume, even if Neji became a Kage-level shinobi in the future, he was still fundamentally just their servant, that can't do any revenge or harm against them. That was precisely why elders didn't object too strongly to Hiashi for personally training and lecturing him in the past and even allowed him to learn the basics of the art of the Gentle Fist today, from Hiashi, alongside Hinata, who was a waste.

In fact, it was even very favorable for Neji to show good strength outside the clan and shut down those people who said that they didn't have any geniuses like Shisui and Itachi Uchiha, and thus didn't deserve to claim their position as the strongest clan. As for other secret techniques of their clan, like the Rotation or the Vacuum Palm, it was all off limits to Neji, those were exclusive techniques of the main branch, and it was mandatory for them not to be taught to any side branch members.

They all reached an agreement with Hiashi beforehand, he would only teach him the Eight Trigrams methods from now on, which relied on Tenketsu sealing fundamentals, and overall basic attacks on the Chakra Pathway System, which in turn converted damage to the organs of the attacked victim.

Also because of his cultivated behavior before, from the beginning, Neji wasn't punished with the activation of the seal like he was in the original series. He never thought of hurting Hinata in their various sparrings like in the original series this time around. He doesn't want to be humiliated like that by the activation. Not to mention that he doesn't hate Hinata, she's just like an ant to him. He silently plotted revenge mainly against those elders high above, from the main branch, and those who usually looked at him with disdain. He already personally engraved their appearances inside.

'Keep your friends close, and your enemies closer. He who laughs last laughs loudest!', That was Neji's current mindset while being so polite with them. Good things come to those who wait.

If the spectators there knew what he was thinking, all his brain cells would be fried, but they can't read minds. Soon, Hiashi, Hinata, and Neji came to the center of the courtyard and Hiashi spoke,

"Neji, how was your first day at school?", Hiashi suddenly asked while looking at the short boy.

Hinata also looked over him curiously at this time, also interested in the Academy. She was one of the few main branch members currently not looking at him as if from high above. Maybe that was also one of the reasons why Neji decided to not do anything against her in the future. The other main clansmen, because of their incompetence and jealousy, openly looked at him with contempt and scorn, while those few elders, spectating on the side, never openly showed it, but he felt as if those ordinary members looked down on him emotionally, then those elders looked down on him more from the rational side, which was even more dangerous and infuriating to him, same as Hiashi.

"It was great, Lord Patriarch, the Lord Hokage also personally gave us a welcoming speech.", Neji immediately answered politely and continued, "Next year, Lady Hinata will also enter the Ninja Academy, and I'll follow my obligations to protect her well!", He continued while glancing at her.

'Lord Hokage...?', Hiashi suddenly thought for a while and then remembered something, so he continued speaking seriously to Neji, he also looked over at Hinata, as if telling her to listen as well.

"Neji, even though it's really good for you to listen to the words of Lord Hokage, you must also remember another thing. You're first and foremost a member of our Hyuga clan, and your only duty is to protect the clan and the main family. I'm really happy you understand that and will protect Hinata after she joins you at the Academy. You must always remember your family and your duty!"

Obviously, he was very aware of the contents and the hidden dangers of Hiruzen's speech this time. Probably it was something more along the lines of that "Will of Fire", everyone is a family. But in that saying, everyone is a family, come something more dangerous, everyone is family so there is no need for clans to exit! That's why Senju willingly merged and intermarried with the rest of the Konoha, but in reality, ceased to exist. It was because of that ideology of all three Hokages before.

And the Uchiha clan looks as if will soon follow in their footsteps, though probably not peacefully!

Neji immediately nodded seriously while Hinata kept silent and fidgeted a little, for a few seconds, before nodding as well, probably not fully agreeing with Hiashi. Seeing this, he just sighed inwardly, every day he was getting more and more disappointed with her, and can't wait for Hanabi to grow.

"Alright, listen carefully to me next. First I'll try to explain to you what our famous Gentle Fist taijutsu style actually is!", Hiashi got to the point immediately and started explaining various fundamentals of the said style.

The Gentle Fist essentially was a form of hand-to-hand combat used exclusively by the members of the Hyuga clan. It inflicts internal damage by attacking the opponent's body's Chakra Pathway System, subsequently injuring organs that are closely intertwined with the area of the network which has been struck.

To do this, the user surgically injects a certain amount of their own harmful chakra into the opponent's chakra pathway system, causing damage to surrounding organs due to their proximity to the chakra circulatory system. Even the slightest tap can cause severe internal damage, hence the name "gentle" fist.

By employing the use of the Byakugan they could also target the tenketsu, thus enhancing the havoc and control a Gentle Fist practitioner can impose upon an opponent's chakra network.

These nodes are key gate-keeping interceptions in the chakra circulatory network, thus forcibly opening or sealing them in whatever manner the Gentle Fist user sees fit, is a powerful tactical option to have. The affected person's chakra flow can either be increased or disrupted completely, preventing them from using any techniques.

Because the chakra pathway system is invisible to the naked eye, the Byakugan is required for most techniques of this style. Since the Byakugan is unique to the Hyuga clan, it has become their signature style of the combat system. The ability to inflict severe internal trauma with minimal external force, combined with chakra network manipulation, makes the Gentle Fist the most reputable and fearsome taijutsu style known in all of the Ninja World.

Next, Hiashi gave them some tips and tricks on how to easier disrupt enemies' internal flow of chakra and introduced the name of the technique used to attack and seal enemies' tenketsu points.

It was called Eight Trigrams, and it could be used in many variations, and sets generally the stronger and more proficient the user is, the more strikes he could make on their opponent and seal away more individual tenketsu points, in one go, before the enemy manages to react and fight back. The human limit, of their clan, currently was around one hundred and twenty-eight strikes per one move. Generally, only the style expert-level masters could perform to that level, and it was very rare.

***

After around an hour of explaining different concepts and theories, Hiashi eventually stopped. He felt like Hinata didn't understand half of it, while Neji looked confident as if he grasped everything, so he said, "Alright Neji, based on everything you heard so far, try and formulate an attack on me.",

Neji nodded, also eager to try, immediately jumping towards Hiashi who casually deflected his right hand's attack with his left hand. Then they traded a dozen or more moves. Neji's small body was constantly jumping from the ground toward much taller Hiashi and unrelentingly attacked him. While Hiashi casually deflected all of his blows, while obviously keeping his hands a little. Therefore, Neji still didn't manage to perform any Gentle Fist attack, but he kept getting better in pure taijutsu.

Hinata from the side opened her Byakugan in shock. She was also trained in pure taijutsu before, like Neji, but she felt that she wouldn't manage to even take one of her father's current blows, 'Maybe I'm really not fit to be a ninja...', Hinata suddenly thought sadly, but then, all of a sudden, a brave, tenacious face with a yellow hair as bright as the sun came into her mind, the boy who saved her, who fought boldly against those older kids despite being so younger and outnumbered. So she just clenched her fists as she continue observing the battle, and trying to learn from their moves.

And just after a few more minutes of one-sided sparring, Hiashi suddenly opened his Byakugan wide in shock, Neji's grandfather, and all those elders back on the terraces above did as well at the same time. It turned out, that the moment Hiashi was going for a finishing blow on Neji, as for ending the battle, a crazy thing suddenly happened then. Neji's hand speed suddenly increased many times over, and he quickly shut down a couple of tenketsu points near Hiashi's attacking wrist.

"I think I already got the gist of it now, Lord Patriarch, please accept my wholehearted thanks for teaching me, and sparring against me.", Neji smiled internally, but still spoke cordially and bowed.

Haruyoshi Hyuga, the previous head of the family, and Neji's grandfather, who was closest to the scene almost couldn't believe his eyes, 'He already got enough resolve at just six years old!?'

Even though Hiashi was a middle Kage-level powerhouse, and sealing a couple of tenketsu points on him was already considered earth-shattering, for a six-year-old to do, something else surprised him even more. Hiashi in the field, alongside all the other spectating elders, realized the same thing.

The human mind and body limit how much chakra a person can produce in one go as a self-defense mechanism, preventing them from accidentally dying from chakra exhaustion. It is one of the reasons that the average, the rookie ninja doesn't learn more advanced and costly techniques.

Because of that self-preservation instinct, shinobi first must gain the resolve to produce all the chakra necessary in order to access all of their chakra potential, and most commonly only chunin level ninja manage to reach that level of resolve, or better said, it was why they become chunin in the first place. Only young geniuses such as Kakashi Hatake, Itachi Uchiha, and Shisui Uchiha managed to do that around the same age as Neji currently, which signals that he was not just an ordinary genius, but a genius on top of nearly all the other geniuses of the entire Konohagakure.

That was for becoming a chunin whereas the unofficially written rule for becoming a jonin is either to be especially good in basic elemental releases, every big village had the specific release they were best traditionally at, or to devise your own unique ninjutsu, thus automatically becoming a special jonin at a bare minimum depending on your overall usefulness and potential. Examples include Morino Ibiki, Gekko Hayate, Yamashiro Aoba, Mitarashi Anko, and others. Chunins are usually selected through Chunin Exams while jonins are individually selected by the Hokage depending on their mission performance.

For the first time, even Haruyoshi Hyuga and other elders regretted that Hiashi was the one born seconds earlier than his brother, and became the clan head instead of Hizashi with such a great son.

Neji will now surely become even more powerful than Hiashi, and all the other previous Hyugas in history, if nothing happens to him in the future, so having such a patriarch was the most fitting for their clan. Young Neji and Hinata were like the sky and the earth, both in potential and in mindset.

But they all sighed next, the destiny can't be changed, the things already happened, and it was over, they could now only hope for young Hanabi, or some other Hiashi's children not to be that useless.

Neji, himself, also turned a little stunned after seeing all of their facial expressions. It was mostly regret and designation written over, but not fear and apprehension as he expected, 'What gives them the confidence to control me in the future? Was that damned curse mark even stronger than I previously envisioned?', Neji's brain now spun harder than ever, he thought, after showing such talent, they still wouldn't kill him because of Hiashi, but at least not train him anymore and fear him.

What happened just now was a really weird feeling swelling inside of him, first coming from his brain and then going towards the rest of his body. He felt like if he didn't use that exact moment to awaken and use that strange feeling, it would be really hard for it to come back again, so he was forced to attack Hiashi's hand, or else, he would've hidden his strength as usual, and never do that.

But, it was worth it, this moment was alone worth a few years of training. He realized that the curse mark was probably ten times more difficult to deal with than he originally thought, or else, they would've panicked now, their faces turned to anxious ones, not regretful ones like they were now.

Even a microexpression of panic was currently not on Hiashi's face beside him for example. Neji's whole plans suddenly turned upside down, and he felt like he had to go back to the drawing board!

Hiashi quickly unsealed his tenketsu points on his hand and looked over at Neji with different eyes. He wasn't mad that this happened. He suddenly got an idea of how to convince elders to train him even more. Even though Neji could never become the main branch, he could still be a powerful tool! He will repay his dead brother and teach Neji every secret technique of the Hyuga clan, but an appropriate moment must present itself first. And he felt like there would soon be one in a while.

"Hinata, you can go back now! I have something to talk to Neji next!", Hiashi suddenly looked coldly over at Hinata, on the side, who immediately turned pale, while secretly clenching her small fists until her nails were embedded into her flesh. She already understood a bit from her grandfather's and father's expressions. It seems Neji somehow became an even bigger genius than before, so they were likely even more disappointed with her now, 'F-Father didn't even ask if I wanted to spar...'