Aoi and Rin, dressed in white kimono-style maid outfits, came out of the room to do their daily cleaning.
They stared in disbelief with wide eyes when they saw Kichou practicing soft boxing on wooden stakes in the empty space of the inner courtyard.
The other person was no longer wearing luxurious and expensive clothes, nor was she wearing precious and fragile gold or jade ornaments.
She was simply wearing a simple body-fitting ninja outfit in light purple.
Iron arm guards, leg guards, chest guards, and other defensive gear used on the battlefield were also carefully stored away.
This was the combat attire she had often worn when she was a member of the Hyuga clan.
Her seemingly supple and seductive body had transformed into the purest tool for slaughter.
Furthermore, when her seemingly soft and gentle fists struck the wooden stakes, they actually penetrated the thick wood, leaving countless straight holes as if bullets had hit it.
Needle-thin streams of chakra spurted into the air from the holes in the wooden stakes, violently shaking even the snow-covered branches more than ten meters away.
If that had been living flesh, it would probably have been pierced with countless bloody holes.
Therefore, even a martial arts style like Gentle Fist, after being honed through the Warring States period, would have evolved into various striking techniques to achieve efficient killing.
Converting the chakra released from the palm into a force that pierces like needles and then attacking with soft fists was Kichou’s sure-kill technique.
Furthermore, to concentrate power, the chakra compressed by Kichou was more elastic than ordinary chakra, which was the key to penetrating the enemy’s body.
This was clearly a highly efficient killing technique honed on the battlefield through countless life-and-death battles.
Its purpose was not to seal the enemy’s chakra or ninjutsu, but to directly kill using Gentle Fist.
After all, the most advanced way to attack an enemy was to finish them off in one blow.
In Kichou’s view, continuous bleeding in traditional soft boxing took too long to finish off the opponent.
“Lady Kichou, are you training?”
Aoi began to stutter with her mouth wide open.
Rin nodded vigorously as if she were dreaming.
“Didn’t you say yesterday that I would seriously train from now on?”
Kichou stopped what she was doing, turned her face, and gave the two a strange look.
“…”
Aoi and Rin felt embarrassed.
They thought it was just an excuse Kichou used to appease them and did not believe Kichou would change her mind so easily.
“By the way, I feel that Lady Kichou’s Gentle Fist has become much stronger than before.”
Rin approached, looked at the holes drilled in the wooden stakes, and was very surprised.
Kichou’s combat style was well known within the Hyuga clan.
This variant of Gentle Fist by Kichou was not an isolated case within the Hyuga clan.
What made a genius a genius was the ability to fuse one’s own understanding into traditional Gentle Fist.
As a result, this situation arose where this type of soft boxing was either known or unknown and not widely applicable.
Furthermore, differences in the degree of Byakugan training and individual chakra control ability were also important factors.
Hyuga’s Gentle Fist was ultimately a technique that functioned in conjunction with the Byakugan.
However, the soft fists Kichou had shown so far probably did not have that much penetrating power.
Although it could easily penetrate a 30-centimeter-long special wooden stake and reach even further, the penetration path was rough and not very smooth.
However, upon closer inspection, one could see that the inside of the holes made by Kichou’s soft fists no longer had rough traces, and there were no fragments left.
Clearly, it had reached a higher level in terms of speed and power.
“Um… Ah, that’s right.
Lady Kichou, you weren’t secretly training alone somewhere we didn’t know, were you?”
Aoi also approached and examined the wooden stakes.
When she discovered the secret, she immediately opened her mouth wide.
After all, in their eyes, Kichou had spent these three months living a dissolute life and wasting time, and had probably even forgotten her identity as a ninja.
The fact that she had been able to maintain the same level of strength as before was proof of her talent.
However, Kichou’s power had miraculously not stagnated and had reached a new level.
Unbelievable.
“Who knows the most about what I’ve been doing recently?”
“Ah… yeah.”
Aoi and Rin were completely confused.
What was the reason?
The two stared at Kichou expectantly for an answer.
“Hmm… It’s probably a difference in mindset.”
Kichou explained it this way.
“Mental state?”
Aoi and Rin looked at each other, but did not quite understand what Kichou was saying.
How did this relate to a person’s mental state?
However, ninjas could maximize their potential by maintaining a calm mental state.
Kichou did not explain further, nor did she need to explain to them.
Furthermore, she did not like talking about memories of the Hyuga clan very much.
Even within that strict clan, her family was the strictest and had the strictest class system.
Before coming to the Night Kingdom, her every action had been restricted and controlled.
Going to the battlefield, daily training, or even getting married had nothing to do with her own will.
She had only been taught to do so, and then instructed to apply for benefits for the family according to the policy her family had planned.
In that clan, the name “Hyuga Kichou” had nothing to do with the person herself.
It was just the name of a weapon, a code name for a tool.
This name could have belonged to someone else.
The only reason she was given this name was because it happened to be the code name given to her when she was born.
She thought she would never be able to resist for the rest of her life, and realized that if things continued like this, she would eventually be unable to endure the pressure and would either die in battle or mentally collapse and die.
She felt like she had become a living human being.
She could live her life as she wished, without worrying about being bound by others or being told by anyone what she could or could not do, and she could even do things that were completely different from her usual self.
She gradually realized that while she was in the family, she had been suppressing her true feelings.
Therefore, she needed a completely different method to release the melancholic emotions accumulated in the family in a cathartic form.
That was why her husband was so tolerant of her.
For three months, he had not criticized her wild lifestyle at all; rather, he had secretly encouraged it.
Perhaps he had seen through her true nature long ago and silently accepted her past.
On the wedding night, she had been acting tough with the knife, but her husband had probably been laughing inwardly.
Thinking that way, Kichou could not help but feel embarrassed.
This meant that everything had been seen through, didn’t it?
Ah, indeed, everything had been witnessed.
She had been offered to that man in every way, had completely become that man’s, and had become that man’s possession.
Even so, she was happy at this moment.
Oda Yayoi — this man had become her husband, the one with whom she would share life and death.
Kichou’s heart was filled with such thoughts.
“People like these two probably never understand.”
Kichou turned her gaze back to Aoi and Rin.
If they had not been chosen as dowry brides, their predetermined fate would have been to be used as tools to fill the gaps in the family’s social connections — in other words, consumables.
Although she was a ninja, she was not very talented.
At this age, she had only just awakened the Byakugan and could only use the most basic techniques of Gentle Fist.
She could instantly kill a ninja of that level.
The reason they had survived until today was because they were women, and even if they could not fill in the suture lines, their reproductive ability remained.
Because Aoi and Rin had brought lunch around noon, Kichou temporarily interrupted her Gentle Fist training in the morning.
After eating, Kichou did not continue training and instead began training her eyesight by opening the Byakugan.
The inner courtyard of the Shogun’s residence was very large — the widest part reached 1 kilometer.
However, this distance was sufficient for the Byakugan to grasp the overall situation of the surroundings.
Elite ninjas of the Hyuga clan generally had a Byakugan visual range exceeding 1 kilometer, and if they concentrated the visual range in one direction, it could extend over 5 kilometers.
The most powerful clan heads could monitor a radius of 7 kilometers.
If concentrated in one direction, the monitoring range could exceed 30 kilometers.
It was said that the Gentle Fist used with this technique could even penetrate the body of a Tailed Beast and disrupt chakra to cause serious damage.
“But since my husband can suppress Tailed Beasts, he might be a ninja at the level of a clan head.”
Kichou could not help but recall the rumors about Yayoi from the past.
There were many powerful ninjas in this era, but a ninja who could capture a Tailed Beast would be considered a hero wherever they went.
Tailed Beasts had only one attack pattern, had large bodies, and were weak to concentrated fire, but they were also very sturdy.
Their attack power far surpassed that of ninjas, and their destructive power was also astonishing.
For powerful ninjas, Tailed Beasts were merely nuisances and not insurmountable existences.
However, for the weak, Tailed Beasts were unparalleled, invincible natural disasters.
Clearly, she was the weaker one.
The Gentle Fist she had honed was now so powerful that it could not even penetrate a Tailed Beast’s skin, and if she encountered a Tailed Beast, she would surely meet her death.
“I still can’t break through the wall here…”
Kichou stared in amazement at the barrier surrounding the inner courtyard.
The barrier was invisible and colorless, and did not block sunlight or moonlight from the outside world.
However, under Byakugan observation, the barrier appeared as a blue sphere covered in spells, obstructing Byakugan observation.
In reality, one could see it with the naked eye from inside the inner palace looking out.
However, when using the Byakugan, the barrier blocked the view and limited the field of vision.
Whether with the naked eye or the Byakugan, it was impossible to clearly see from the outside to the inside.
The same applied underground.
Although there should be a vast space underground, it was also protected by a barrier, so the Byakugan’s vision became blurry.
“The facilities here are very important, so this barrier was installed.”
A voice could be heard from afar, and Yayoi’s figure appeared in the corridor, walking toward them.
“Dear husband.”
Kichou ran over like a beautiful butterfly dancing in the sky and jumped into Yayoi’s arms.
“You came back a little early today, dear husband.”
Kichou looked up at him with a puzzled expression.
It was still afternoon, and according to Yayoi’s habits, he should not return until after dark.
Sometimes at 9 o’clock, sometimes at 8 o’clock, and the earliest so far had been close to 7 o’clock.
“That gir Irori is quite capable.
Thanks to her, I can save quite a lot of time.
Besides, I have to start preparing for the trip to the Land of Fire soon, so I need to recover my strength before that.”
Yayoi gently stroked the girl’s back.
The feel of the ninja outfit was different from a kimono, but both were soft to the touch.
“Were you training just now?”
“Yes, I was.
I was training the power of the Byakugan.”
“Is that based on observation distance?” The source of this chapter is g.com.
Yayoi asked out of curiosity.
Honestly, he did not understand very well how the strength of the Byakugan’s ocular power was classified.
If it were something like the Sharingan, one could intuitively understand the level of its dojutsu power.
One Tomoe, two Tomoes, three Tomoes, and even the Mangekyō all had very clear levels.
It was difficult to judge the strength of the Byakugan’s pupil power just by appearance.
“That’s one way, but observation distance alone without precision is not enough.
Since a ninja’s concentration is limited, to use the Byakugan correctly, one needs the ability to find the most important parts in a complex environment.”
Using the Byakugan to maintain distance was, in Kichou’s view, putting the cart before the horse.
The Byakugan was certainly an auxiliary eye, but it was an auxiliary eye used in conjunction with combat, not purely an auxiliary ocular technique.
“I can easily see through the flow of chakra in ninjutsu.
For example, with Fire Release techniques, by seeing through the pattern of chakra flow in the flames with the Byakugan and touching it with Gentle Fist, I can instantly disrupt the chakra flow in the flames and slash through the Fire Release technique without avoiding it.”
“That is truly a novel combat method.
By the way, how far can your Byakugan see without obstacles?”
Yayoi asked out of curiosity.
Kichou was momentarily at a loss for words.
Was this not going in circles about distance again?
“I can see everything within a 4-kilometer radius.
If I concentrate in one direction, I should be able to see places 18 kilometers away.”
“That far?”
Yayoi looked surprised.
He knew that the average visual range of elite ninjas in the Hyuga clan was 1–2 kilometers.
Even if they focused in one direction, they could see at most 5 kilometers ahead.
“That’s because the purity of my Byakugan is very high.
The power of the Byakugan is related to its purity.
Both distance and precision depend on the purity of the Byakugan.
By the way, this secret is between us.
This way, husband can taste more of my ‘first experiences.'”
Kichou’s lips curved slightly, like a child showing off a hidden talent.
This was the only way she could rebel against her father, Hyuga Hiden, within the family.
If it were discovered that her white eyes were too pure, she would never be offered as a marriage partner.
She sometimes thought it was good that she had kept this fact hidden, because it had given her a chance now.
This might simply be a part predetermined by fate.
“Does high-purity Byakugan have any new characteristics?”
Yayoi was puzzled by this.
Although Kichou said that, it looked no different from ordinary eyes.
After all, no matter how much training one did, the observation range of the Byakugan could not keep up with sensory ninjutsu.
The perception range of sensory ninjutsu was generally over several kilometers, and some reached hundreds of kilometers.
“This is… Apparently, there is a vague record in the clan that the higher the purity of the Byakugan, the easier it is to acquire new dojutsu in some way.
However, that record is far too vague, and the content is also very incomplete… Perhaps some secrets are passed down orally from clan head to the next clan head.”
After thinking for a moment, Kichou answered Yayoi’s question.
Any record carried the risk of information leakage.
Although oral transmission might seem outdated, it was the best way to keep secrets.
“Furthermore, that secret seems to involve a very ancient figure, the Sage of Six Paths.
The Hyuga clan’s records also mention a monster with ten tails, somewhat similar to the current Tailed Beasts.”
Yayoi was surprised by Kichou’s unintentional words.
Sage of Six Paths.
A monster with ten tails.
In this era, the existence of the Sage of Six Paths was no different from a mythical figure.
There were rumors that the Senju, Uchiha, and Uzumaki clans were descendants of the Sage of Six Paths.
Not only these three clans, but it was said that there were also descendants of the Sage of Six Paths in the Land of Lightning and other countries.
Regarding the ten-tailed monster, he immediately thought of the “Ten-Tails” Madara mentioned at the Five Kage Summit in the original work and the “Moon’s Eye” plan to trap the entire world in genjutsu.
Surprisingly, this ancient legend was also passed down within the Hyuga clan.
There might be some connection between the Hyuga clan and the Sage of Six Paths.
“Your Highness, you’re going to the Land of Fire next, right?”
The sound of Kichou returning brought him back to reality.
“Yes, the inauguration ceremony for the First Hokage of Konohagakure will be held in two weeks.
In four days, I will officially depart for the Land of Fire.
Many daimyos from other countries have already departed in advance.”
“Then I’ll go too.”
“Good.”
Seeing the determination in Kichou’s eyes, Yayoi stopped, stroked her hair, and nodded with a smile.
Kichou smiled, and with her slender fingers, she gently drew circles on Yayoi’s chest, causing a tingling itch.
Her body was supple and not bony, emitting an attractive and captivating aura.
“Let’s have dinner together tonight…”
…