The next day, the sun rose as usual.
Yuto woke up early. For young shinobi of his age, who had just returned from a mission, a few days of rest to enjoy the peaceful days in Konoha was customary.
But Yuto had already been up before dawn. After a simple wash and packing a small bag of dry food, he left the clan grounds alone and headed to the dense forest on the outskirts of the village.
He walked a familiar path to his secret training spot—an open area surrounded by dozens of tall trees.
The clearing was small and quite secluded. Upon closer inspection, one would find the ground extremely hard, almost like rock.
Yuto retrieved a box from under one of the big trees, taking out the items inside: heavy wristbands and armor plates, a specially made dummy marked with acupoints and Chakra pathway diagrams, sealed drinking water, emergency bandages, and hemostatic medicine...
He put on the heavy gear, bound each finger with metal blocks, took a few deep breaths, and began training in the forest.
Stepping, punching, and activating his Byakugan, every move in his Gentle Fist was executed meticulously. The coordination of chakra and physical actions was a major discipline. During training, if his strikes were even slightly off target, even by a millimeter, Yuto would punish himself by repeating the action a hundred times.
Over the years, the once soft soil of this narrow forest area had been trampled as hard as rock by him.
How did a Hyuga branch family orphan earn the title of "The Jewel of the Hyuga"? The answer was simple: perseverance.
Each drop of sweat and every punch pushed him closer to becoming stronger.
A foolish method was still a method.
However, despite his efforts, Yuto could clearly feel his progress slowing down recently.
In his secret training ground, Yuto suddenly leaped up, darting like a bird towards the dummy. His hands moved so fast they almost turned into a blur, striking sixteen key points on the dummy's chest and abdomen like lightning.
After landing, he checked the dummy and silently sighed.
Only three of the sixteen strikes had fully penetrated the thick armor of the dummy.
His finger strength and hand force were still not "piercing" or "fierce" enough.
The so-called Gentle Fist was based on the Byakugan, utilizing direct attack techniques with the body and chakra. In essence, it was a hereditary Kekkei Genkai Taijutsu.
Taijutsu training was a crucial part of this.
Yuto Hyuga was certain that none of his peers in the village worked harder than he did. No child would forsake all fun and food to run into the forest for suffering.
Despite his hard work, he hadn't made significant progress in a long time.
His body's talent had been fully tapped.
Yuto's physical condition was good, his chakra capacity was decent, and he was a genius, but only an average genius.
As time passed and his body matured, Yuto was sure he would become a Jonin, but going beyond that would be extremely difficult.
With the branch family's sealed Byakugan, limited abilities, and inherent blind spots, Yuto couldn't surpass the level of Jonin. For the rest of his life, he wouldn't even see the heels of a Kage-level shinobi.
A transmigrator's sweat and effort shortened the time it took to grow from Genin to Jonin, but absolute talent limited his potential for further advancement.
Unless... he acquired other powerful shinobi techniques, breaking free from the limitations of the Byakugan and Gentle Fist.
Flying Thunder God, Sage Mode, Impure World Reincarnation, Wood Release... these famous techniques or Kekkei Genkai were Yuto's only hope to surpass his limits.
Otherwise, relying solely on the Byakugan and Gentle Fist, revenge would be a hopeless dream for his entire life.
Even among the Hyuga main family, with an unsealed Byakugan and complete Gentle Fist techniques, no other Kage-level powerhouse had appeared except for the legendary "Ryusuke Hyuga."
"Don't rush... take it slowly." Yuto muttered to himself as he completed today's heavy training tasks.
After finishing all his training, eating all his dry food, and cleaning up the secret training ground, it was already evening.
Yuto changed into clean clothes and returned along the same path.
His life had become very simple after becoming a Genin: either he went out on missions or came to the training ground to practice, maintaining a very regular routine.
As a result, he had very few friends and not many people to talk to.
So, in the eyes of others, although "The Jewel of the Hyuga" was gentle and kind, he also had the aloofness of a genius and wasn't very easy to get along with.
On his way back to the village, Yuto didn't feel lonely. Farmers were returning from their fields, and low-level shinobi were coming back from missions. Despite the increasing tensions among the great nations, Konoha Village was peaceful and serene. People were chatting and laughing, and those who recognized Yuto greeted him.
Of course, as the Third Shinobi World War approached, even Konoha would eventually be enveloped in a somber and tense atmosphere.
After entering the village, Yuto headed towards the clan grounds. However, he didn't expect to see a famous trio from the manga in his line of sight along the way.
"Obito, you're late again!" A pretty girl with purple cheek marks and large eyes scolded a boy running towards her from a takoyaki stand by the street.
"Rin, I'm sorry, I was wrong..."
The boy with sunglasses and a sunny smile scratched the back of his head, sweating profusely as he apologized, "I was helping an old lady cross the street..."
"That shouldn't make you thirty minutes late!"
"And then I helped the tofu seller fetch water and bandaged an injured kitten... I felt so bad for them..."
"You! You!" Rin's eyes widened. Seeing Obito's miserable look, she felt like scolding him but couldn't bear to, so she turned to her handsome white-haired companion,
"Every time I wait for you, from now on you can go out on your own!"
"Eh? Don't be like that, Rin." Obito shouted:
"We're a team that goes through life and death together! The tightest team in Konoha! Not a single one of us can be missing... right, Kakashi?"
"Hmm?" Kakashi looked up, puzzled,
"Rin, was there a fly buzzing around in front of me just now?"
"Aaaah, Kakashi, you jerk, stop pretending..."
Kakashi dodged Obito's "neck hug" and saw Yuto on the street.
He nodded slightly at Yuto, a greeting of sorts.
Yuto was a year older than Kakashi. The two were quite familiar with each other from being called out by teachers to demonstrate taijutsu at the academy.
Yuto smiled warmly and greeted them. They were classmates, after all, not strangers.
"Yo! Yuto! You work so hard! Come try these takoyaki!"
In the orange twilight, Obito's voice was full of vitality, like the passionate, blazing sun.
(End of Chapter)
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