76 - Third Year 3

[MC POV]

After discussing with Daikoku-sensei, I headed to Training Ground 10. If all goes according to plan, Hinari Hyuga will join our team. That's the best-case scenario. Worst case, I need to find another person who can replace Hinari. I don't even want to think about it.

As I reached the training ground, I could clearly see Hinari and Chikako waiting for me.

Hinari: "You're late."

"Sorry, it took some time to convince Daikoku-sensei. But as things stand, and with you joining our team, we'll be able to exclude ourselves from the academy's practical training."

Hinari: "I haven't agreed yet."

I looked at Chikako. He understood before I could speak.

Chikako: "She wants to fight you seriously. If you can beat her, she'll join the team. That's the basic gist of our conversation."

I understood immediately.

"Okay, so as you're joining our team—"

Hinari: "You haven't beaten me yet."

"You seriously want to fight me?"

Hinari: "Yes."

"Sigh, let's get this over with. Chikako, be the referee."

I looked at Hinari.

"You can use Byakugan and jutsus if you like. Otherwise, it will be boring."

Hinari: "Aren't you taking me too lightly?"

"Then make me take you seriously. Let's start."

Chikako stood in the middle of us.

Chikako: "Start the fight."

Hinari got into the stance of Gentle Fist, her Byakugan in full swing.

"Sigh, Hyugas and their Gentle Fist."

I got into the position of my own style. I named it "Focus Fist." But I can't use it against Hinari with full strength. Otherwise, the result would be devastating for her. I made sure not to use chakra in my fists. I approached her with explosive speed and started throwing a right straight punch. Byakugan, being a good Doujutsu, read it. She dodged the right fist, but the left straight was already in motion. She dodged it to the right, but after pulling back the right fist to only half its position, I threw it again. The surprise element of half-fist strikes is already gone in my class. For the past half-year, I've been trying to incorporate half-fist strikes into my style. Hinari saw through it too. But what she didn't anticipate was the left foot coming at her side. However, Byakugan helped her. She managed to put up a guard, but because of my power, she was thrown back about 5 feet. She rolled herself to dissipate the momentum and got back into her fighting stance.

Hinari: *[What's going on? The Hyuga technique should be stable at its core. How powerful is he to be able to send me flying 5 feet? Even then, I had to roll to ground the remaining energy.]*

"That was my current power. Now let's test speed."

I started walking toward her. No stance, just a casual, slow walk. As I got near her, I explosively increased my speed. After reaching arm's length, I started throwing punches. She started using Gentle Fist in full swing. I mixed in different sequences of punches, full-blown kicks, and air kicks. Soon, I started gaining the upper hand against Hinari. Gentle Fist can't keep up, as palms can't take on full-blown fists. And I'm not even using chakra. If I included chakra control in this fight, it wouldn't even be a contest.

After fighting for some time, I got bored. She had been on the defensive for the past 2 minutes. Hyugas don't have much foot movement. Defensively, they are good, but when faced with a higher level of offense, they struggle. After relentless attacks, I found a gap and threw a right hook. She managed to block it, but it still connected with her temple. It was a soft hit, but we were in a stalemate, and she was trying not to let go. Then I used the technique I had been practicing for the past 7 months. And I succeeded.

"Rekkou."

Bam. A zero-distance punch hit her right at the temple, and she went down.

Chikako: "You finally used that in a fight."

"Yeah, I never got a chance like this before. Let's put her against the tree trunk. From now on, things will get rough."

After we put her in the shade of a tree, we started with our personalized training. After 15 minutes, she woke up. After standing up, she approached us.

Hinari: "That doesn't count. You took me by surprise."

I knew she would say that. I walked over to the tree, concentrated my chakra in my fist, and bam—punched a hole through the tree. My Focus Fist concentrates and releases chakra differently than Tsunade-hime. Her chakra blasts out in all directions, causing her trademark devastation. For me, I concentrate it in my fist or knuckle, making it more devastating, and release it in only one direction upon contact. My Focus Fist doesn't cause destruction on that scale. After the initial boost of strength with chakra control, you need a high amount of chakra to cause the devastation that Sakura caused during the Fourth Shinobi War. That's just a waste of chakra. And for me, it's a matter of life and death.

After seeing the destruction to the tree, Hinari was stunned.

"I was fighting you without chakra. This Focus Fist I created is for perfect devastation. That was a fist attack. If I concentrate that attack in my knuckle, watch."

I repeated the process, and this time, a small, straight hole appeared in the tree.

"So, are you joining?"

Hinari, after coming out of shock, started to look sad. Until now, she lived in the hollow of Hyuga pride. But when that pride is shattered, nothing remains. But after losing everything, when you are deep in a hole, there's only one way to go—look up and move forward.

Hinari: "Yes, I'm joining."

"Good. Let's start training tomorrow. Let's celebrate creating our own team."

Hinari: "Okay, where are we going?"

"My place. I'll be cooking."

Hinari: "Shouldn't we go to a restaurant?"

Chikako: "This baka is vegetarian."

Hinari: "Ehhhhhhhh?"