Chapter 121

— Like the overwhelming majority of the Hyūga, I specialize in taijutsu and clan-specific jutsu. I'm also proficient with throwing weapons and Katon, but I prefer close-range combat, — the jōnin replied after a moment's thought. — Therefore, in the event of an unavoidable clash, we will use formations for two close-combat fighters with support.

Nodding, I shifted back and resumed my position in the diamond formation. I hadn't heard anything surprising, but it was necessary to verify.

The standard tactic for a team of four with two taijutsu users and a Nara is to hold back the most powerful enemies, allowing them to be caught in the shadows, while the fourth team member handles long-range units and holds them for the time needed to eliminate stationary targets. Of course, variations are possible depending on the strength and specialization of the enemy team, but given that we are likely to encounter mostly chunin and a rare jōnin as the leader, this scheme works almost always.

We then quickened our pace, and there was no time for idle chatter. There were still a few days' journey ahead, so we had plenty of time to talk.

***

For the first couple of days, we traveled almost without encountering any obstacles — enemy patrols near the border had long since disappeared, and the few rare sabotage teams we encountered were easily detected and avoided at a great distance by our leader's Byakugan.

It was only on the second day that we had to fight a team of chunin, one of whom was a skilled sensor who managed to detect us and lead his comrades to such weak chakra sources. However, against the level of two jōnin and two strong chunin, they had nothing to counter, and the trio of Iwa shinobi was defeated in literally a few seconds.

I didn't even need to reveal the chakra source, as I already outpaced all three of the young men by speed. What were they even hoping for? Although, they might have thought they were pursuing genin led by a weak chunin, as our team felt at the moment.

Watching as the Hyūga dispatched his opponents with just two touches led me to an interesting but somewhat disheartening realization. Despite not having as many field experiences as my teammates, I had worked with many shinobi, both clan-based and non-clan. I observed the taijutsu each shinobi employed. The conclusion was rather grim — only certain clans, whose abilities integrate well with taijutsu, like the Inuzuka, Uchiha, and Hyūga, have a reasonably decent base in hand-to-hand combat. Others only have a basic setup designed to "not die in the next few seconds and create distance for using jutsu or throwing sharp/explosive items."

That's it. I'm not even mentioning the primitive techniques taught at the academy or various styles that only work with superior opponent strength and speed. Go Ken, for instance, is so simple and primitive in its essence that its straightforward and basic strikes can be predicted by almost anyone. What's different is that managing to stop or counter them still requires effort. In general, other styles available aren't any better, and clan-specific variations consider the unique abilities of their users but don't suit everyone else.

 The only exception might be the Senju, but even they need to have great endurance to use the Thousand Hands style. If all clans and masters of hand-to-hand combat came together to develop a single, well-thought-out taijutsu style suitable for most shinobi, it would provide a significant advantage for our forces compared to the fragmented situation in other hidden villages.

After all, I once saw a demonstration of hand-to-hand combat by special forces trained specifically for killing or instant neutralization of opponents, and it looked far superior in technique compared to everything demonstrated by fighters in this world. And if you add the ability to use chakra to that, it's best not to get close to such a monster. Ah…

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