Chapter 23: Hyuga Setsuna

"Amazing!"

"Is this guy really a fellow ninja academy student from our year?"

This time, it wasn't just the group of girls nearby.

Even the male students who had already been eliminated were exclaiming in amazement.

Indeed.

Although it was the time of war, the basic ninja skills of the academy's students were quite high.

However, when dealing with these low-level brats who hadn't even reached the level of Genin yet, Yu hardly needed to use his Thread-Thread Fruit abilities or other advanced ninjutsu. With his formidable physical abilities and taijutsu skills alone, he effortlessly overwhelmed this group of academy students.

"Perhaps..."

"Only that guy Shisui can make me bring out my true strength?"

With this thought in mind, faced with one seemingly simple attack after another, Yu became even more determined to apply for early graduation after mastering all the basic ninja arts.

After all, he didn't enter the ninja academy just to mess around or pretend to be someone he wasn't; he wasn't interested in playing house.

"Are you Yakushi Yu?"

But at that moment, a cold voice sounded.

In Yu's momentary distraction, he saw a figure dressed in white swiftly dispatching several academy students around him and blocking his way.

"Let me see, the one who can overshadow Uchiha Shisui, a genius of the Uchiha clan..."

"What kind of strength do you possess?"

With flowing jet-black hair, a kimono with a black base and white edges, and a surprisingly handsome face, what caught Yu's attention the most were the pure white eyes of the young man before him.

Clearly, he was a member of Konoha's oldest and most prestigious clan—the Hyuga clan!

"Hyuga Setsuna?"

Faced with the sudden appearance of the Hyuga clan youth, Yu's initially indifferent gaze finally became a bit more serious.

Among all the students in the same year at the ninja academy, aside from Uchiha Shisui, who was assigned to another class, this young man named Hyuga Setsuna had the strongest strength.

He was indeed a genius ninja of the Hyuga clan, a talent not mentioned in the original storyline.

"Byakugan!"

Without further ado, the Hyuga clan youth in front of Yu formed hand seals.

His pure white eyes suddenly widened, and veins on both sides of his temples bulged, revealing a ferocious appearance.

"You awakened the Byakugan at such a young age?!"

Facing the activated Byakugan of Hyuga Setsuna before him, Yu felt as if his entire body was being seen through by those sharp eyes, and a hint of surprise appeared on his face.

The Byakugan—an ancient bloodline limit of the Hyuga clan in Konoha.

Although its activation method was not as demanding as the Uchiha clan's Sharingan, awakening the Byakugan at such a young age was evidence of Hyuga Setsuna's outstanding talent.

"Be careful! Gentle Fist!"

After activating the Byakugan and noticing that Yu seemed somewhat distracted, the Hyuga clan youth reminded him. Blue chakra had already begun to emanate from his hands.

Gentle Fist—a Hyuga clan's secret martial art, the most powerful style of taijutsu in Konoha.

It could directly attack the circulatory system and even pinpoint pressure points when combined with the Byakugan.

"So, this is the Gentle Fist of the Hyuga clan?"

Faced with the relentless attacks of Hyuga Setsuna's Gentle Fist, Yu's body began to retreat as he dodged the blue chakra strikes with difficulty.

Unlike the Hard Fist of the Lee clan that Yu was currently practicing, the Hyuga clan's Gentle Fist focused on upper-body movements, with techniques that primarily protected the lower body. Using their unique Gentle Fist, they would inject chakra into their opponent's body, damaging their veins and organs.

After all, in the normal ninja world, even the most powerful individuals couldn't train their organs. Usually, the internal injuries caused by Gentle Fist techniques were fatal.

Unless you reached the level of the Six Paths or had a Sage's body like Hashirama Senju, or had been modified like Hidan from the Akatsuki.

Contrastingly, the Lee clan's Hard Fist prioritized lower-body movements, with techniques that mainly relied on legwork. They used chakra to enhance their explosiveness and destructive power, with swift and fierce movements, inflicting direct damage to the opponent's surface.

In simple terms, these two different styles each had their strengths.

So, if struck by the Hyuga clan's Gentle Fist, even if it just grazed the skin, Hyuga Setsuna could use the chakra unique to Gentle Fist to damage Yu's organs and circulatory system through pressure points.

"It seems like, aside from the original story's Hyuga Neji..."

"The Hyuga clan's branch also produced other outstanding talents."

Observing Hyuga Setsuna's relentless Gentle Fist strikes, Yu realized that this young man's strength was clearly in a different league than the other academy students.

For a moment, Yu, filled with amazement, couldn't help but let his thoughts wander.

According to the original Naruto storyline, it seemed there weren't many notable individuals or events in the Hyuga clan, apart from Hyuga Hinata and her cousin, Hyuga Neji.

From the beginning to the end, the Hyuga clan seems to have no worthy person who can compete with the Uchiha clan.

Among the younger generation of Uchiha, there was Uchiha Shisui, the strongest genjutsu ninja, and Uchiha Itachi, who reached the Kage level at the age of thirteen.

Even the later Uchiha Sasuke, although his performance in the early stage was average, his cheating and upgrades in the later stage, and he even awakened the reincarnated soul of Indra and received the inheritance of the Sage of Six Paths, becoming one of the strongest in the ninja world.

Not to mention the arrogant Uchiha Madara and the unstoppable Uchiha Obito, in short, throughout the history of the Uchiha clan, there are too many wonderful characters.

On the other hand, look at the Hyuga clan.

Throughout nearly a century in Konoha, there hadn't been a single strong individual born into the clan aside from Hyuga Neji. 

he became an Jonin ninja. Sadly, without the protagonist's plot armor, he tragically met his end in the Fourth Great Ninja War, becoming the only one among Naruto's classmates to sacrifice his life.

So, the sudden appearance of this genius Hyuga clan member, Hyuga Setsuna, was indeed unexpected for Yu.

In the real world of Naruto, it appeared that there were many people and events not mentioned in the anime.

"It's over!"

Just as Yu's gaze seemed somewhat distracted.

The Hyuga clan youth in front of him suddenly shouted.

The pure white eyes burst forth with a sharp light, and his hands were spread out in front of Yu in a peculiar stance.

"You're already inside my Eight Trigrams Realm."

Sensing an invisible field enveloping his body, Yu faced Hyuga Setsuna's Gentle Fist stance, and his eyes widened. "This is..."

"Gentle Fist Art: Eight Trigrams Thirty-Two Palms!"

Without waiting for Yu to react, with a deep voice, Hyuga Setsuna suddenly shouted.

His entire body rushed into Yu's embrace.

His hands unleashed the Hyuga clan's secret Gentle Fist technique, the Eight Trigrams Thirty-Two Palms, like a fierce storm, striking all thirty-two vital points on Yu's body.

"No, it's you who's finished!"

However, faced with Hyuga Setsuna's deadly assault in front of him, Yu's gaze finally became serious, and his body gradually emitted a layer of lightning-like radiance.

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