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The evening in Konoha was calm.
Night had draped itself over the village like a gray cloak, and the four stone faces of the Hokage Monument stood like weary sentinels, silently watching over this land where dark currents swirled beneath the surface.
Inside the courtyard at this moment, Unkawa Hyūga stood in the center of the wide yard, wearing a white training uniform and his eyes tightly shut.
Around him, several broken wooden posts were suspended in midair by mechanical devices, their sharp, jagged ends all pointing directly at him.
After a moment, he gently released the thin rope connected to the mechanism in his hands.
Ssssh! Ssssh!
Instantly, the sound of the mechanisms locking shut and the piercing whistles of flying wood filled the courtyard. One after another, the razor-sharp fragments rained down like an unrelenting barrage.
But in the next instant, Unkawa moved—fast beyond measure.
His entire body became a blur, cutting through the air with the sound of rushing wind, actively charging toward the incoming projectiles.
Though the wooden shards flew at incredible speed and left almost no blind spots, to his perception, every trajectory and angle was clear and visible.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
This time, unlike the simple techniques used against Hana, Unkawa's palms were wrapped in blue chakra, his arms moving like shadows, carrying with them a powerful wind pressure that struck outward.
In the blink of an eye, the wooden posts he hit exploded from within, turning into a swirling mist around him. His figure became indistinct, like a ghost emerging from smoke.
If Might Gai had been here to witness this, he would have been absolutely electrified.
Because even though Unkawa used Gentle Fist, there was a raw, aggressive power in his strikes—an integration of Iron Fist and Gentle Fist techniques.
Shriek!
Finally, two massive wooden posts with cruel, barbed tips shot out from either side, approaching Unkawa at terrifying speeds.
Their visible velocity alone represented immense kinetic energy—enough to pierce flesh and bone.
As if sensing something, Unkawa remained rooted in place, not moving a step. His lips slowly curled into a smile while his eyes stayed closed, and his clenched fists hummed with energy.
"Divine Sky Strike!"
He swung his fist forward, unleashing unrestrained force without hesitation. The surrounding dust was swept away as the concentrated chakra in his hands solidified into an invisible entity, breaking free from his body and smashing outward toward the wooden posts.
Boom! Boom!
Before they could reach him, the two posts were obliterated three meters away, shattered into an impossibly fine mist—as if the sheer force had penetrated deep into the wood and exploded from within.
These were special pieces of wood designed for training in Gentle Fist. Both inside and out, they were extremely durable, able to withstand the Eight Trigrams Hundred-and-Twenty-Eight Palms without damage. But now, Unkawa had shattered them from a distance.
If those punches had landed on a living person...
"Done."
Unkawa opened his eyes and looked at the panel before him, smiling. "Finally got a long-range, high-impact Nin-Taijutsu. No more needing to punch Susanoo or Tailed Beasts head-on."
[Body Techniques:
Gentle Fist Style – Eight Trigrams Thirty-Two Palms (C Rank),
Eight Gates – Gate of Life (Forbidden Technique),
Gentle Fist Style – One-Hit Body (B Rank),
Divine Sky Strike (A Rank)]
By concentrating large amounts of chakra into a single part of the body and releasing it all at once using the penetrating force of both Gentle Fist and Iron Fist, this technique could turn even the toughest opponent into blood mist—regardless of how well-conditioned their body was.
Most importantly, like the Rasengan, this technique required no hand seals and had no elemental affinity. It could be combined with any nature transformation—wind, fire, lightning, earth, water—and was highly versatile and scalable, with great potential for growth.
"A Rank learning difficulty?" Unkawa's expression turned thoughtful.
To many, "chakra" might seem like a game's "mana"—used only when you're fighting.
But in reality, except for users of Yin Sealing techniques and Jinchuriki, chakra couldn't be stored in the body. It naturally dissipated over time.
Every use of chakra required refining it through one's spiritual and physical energies. If the rate of refinement was slower than the rate of dissipation, then one simply didn't have ninja talent. This was one of the main factors determining the strength of most standard ninjas.
Kakashi always calculated his chakra usage so carefully because half of whatever he refined went straight to feeding his Sharingan—making his already slow chakra refinement process even worse.
In the original story, before Naruto earned Nine-Tails' recognition and cooperation, every time he used Sage Mode, he needed to prepare a shadow clone beforehand to store up chakra and natural energy. Similarly, Jiraiya relied on the two frogs on his shoulders for assistance.
On top of having a faster refinement rate than dissipation, the maximum amount of chakra the body can hold is another decisive factor—it determines the power and scale of the jutsu a ninja can perform.
For example, the reincarnated corpses in Edo Tensei all technically had infinite chakra. So why couldn't others match Uchiha Madara's ability to unleash large-scale fire techniques?
Fire Release: Grand Fire Annihilation is just a B-Rank fire technique, but in Madara's hands, it took dozens of Mist ninja using Water Wall barriers simultaneously to stop it.
That's because Madara's specially engineered body could carry far more chakra, allowing for greater power and scale in the techniques he used.
Hence, at the end of the Valley of the End battle, Sasuke, who had the Rinnegan Eye of the Sage, clearly lost in endurance to Naruto, who had both the Sage Body and the Nine-Tails. Only after stealing the chakra of the other eight tailed beasts did Sasuke manage to fight Naruto to a standstill.
Chakra refinement speed and chakra capacity.
These two points are the main determinants of a ninja's strength when their skill level is similar.
The first might be improved through hard work, but the second is innate—true talent.
And what determines these two factors? The internal chakra network, much like the vascular network that allows blood to circulate throughout the body. They are pathways which chakra flows through to every part of the body. Combined with the 361 chakra points (Tenketsu), they form the Chakra Network.
If most people's pathways are like small streams flowing gently, then Unkawa's body has rivers running through it—powerful and ceaseless. In fact, his system surpasses even that of Uzumaki Naruto, who was born into the Uzumaki clan.
The system classified this technique as A Rank likely because he fully utilized the talents of this body—extremely fast chakra refinement speed, high chakra capacity, and excellent chakra control...
"I wonder if Hagoromo Otsutsuki's Eighty Hands of Heaven works on the same principle. But given his body's natural talent, the Eighty Hands of Heaven must have been nothing more than a casual, brute-force strike for him."
Unkawa pulled his wandering thoughts back and glanced up at the disheveled courtyard.
After hesitating for a moment, he decided not to clean it up and turned to walk into the house.
After an intense morning training session with Gai and spending the afternoon exhausting himself developing a new Nin-Taijutsu, all he wanted right now was to go home and rest.
But just as he walked into the house, a figure appeared outside the courtyard.
The visitor looked around at the scattered wood chips and broken posts, the once-tidy lawn now pitted and torn. Some of the shattered remains still bore fresh, un-dried bloodstains. He felt a wave of shock.
What in the world happened here?
Frowning slightly, the man quietly stepped into the courtyard, standing motionless at the door for a few seconds before deciding to open it.
However, the moment his hand touched the doorknob—
Bang!
The door suddenly burst open from the inside, the force so strong it sent a loud reverberation echoing through the handle.
It felt like someone was trying to crush him into the grass below, or worse—force their way into his very body.
"Hmm?"
The man paused, instinctively pressing his palm against the doorframe and immediately channeling the power of Gentle Fist to counteract the overwhelming force.
All of it vanished like a cow plunging into the sea, dissipating as if neutralized by some opposing force.
Inside, Unkawa stopped his movement, likely realizing who the visitor was.
Click.
The door opened.
Recognizing the figure outside, Unkawa also seemed momentarily stunned.
"Lord Hizashi?"
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