Chakra concentrated around her fingers as she aimed directly at one of the points in his circulatory system.
Kaito didn't dodge at all.
Hinata's palm struck him.
Hinata immediately felt that something was wrong. Her chakra didn't penetrate.
Her eyes widened.
Kaito hadn't even moved backward.
"What...?".
"Again".
Hinata attacked. This time with two consecutive palm strikes.
Kaito took both.
Nothing.
She increased her speed.
Four strikes.
Eight.
The dry sound of impacts began to spread across the training ground as Hinata changed angles, targeting different tenketsu.
Ribs, shoulder, chest, abdomen. Every strike was precise. Every impact would have caused serious problems for a normal shinobi.
Not one managed to break through the defense Kaito had placed over the front of his body.
Hinata retreated several meters and took a deep breath.
"You're protecting your entire body".
"Yes".
"But I can't see it".
"Because I don't need to harden it until it becomes visible".
Hinata activated the Byakugan again. Kaito raised a hand.
"Now comes the important part".
He picked up a small stone from the ground.
Hinata watched. Kaito placed the stone on his palm and closed his fingers.
"Busoshoku doesn't start here".
His fist darkened.
"This is only the result".
He opened his hand and the stone was still intact.
"It starts before that".
Hinata remained silent.
"Chakra is an energy you've learned to mold since you were little. Your clan taught you how to move it, concentrate it, and expel it with precision. When you want to protect yourself, you immediately think of chakra because your entire life you've been taught that it's the tool you're supposed to use".
Hinata nodded slowly.
"And you want me to stop doing that".
"I want you to stop thinking of it as the only answer during this training".
Kaito tossed the stone toward her. Hinata caught it.
"Look at it".
Hinata lowered her eyes.
"Now imagine that you need to break it".
Her fingers began to close as chakra immediately flowed toward her hand.
Kaito shook his head.
"Stop".
Hinata relaxed her fingers.
"You did it again".
"It was automatic". She replied.
"Exactly".
Kaito walked closer to her.
"Your body knows how to use chakra before you even have to think about it. We need to achieve something similar with this".
Hinata looked at the stone again.
"How?".
Kaito remained silent for a few seconds. Then he drew his katana.
Hinata looked up, slightly surprised.
"A sword can break". Kaito ran two fingers along the side of the blade.
"It can lose its edge. It can get stuck. It can be destroyed by a superior weapon".
A black layer slowly began to spread across the katana from the hilt to the tip. It wasn't chakra. Hinata immediately confirmed that with the Byakugan.
The sword had simply been coated in that strange force until it took on a dark and threatening appearance.
Kaito moved the blade and the air whistled.
Hinata felt a shiver the next moment.
"But if you manage to impose your will upon something, it stops being merely steel".
Kaito pointed toward a rock several meters away. He didn't use chakra. Nor did he perform any seals. He simply slashed.
The katana passed cleanly through the stone.
The upper half remained motionless for a second before sliding off and falling heavily onto the grass.
Hinata stared at the cut. It was perfectly smooth.
Kaito sheathed the katana.
"Busoshoku means giving your will weight. Making whatever should harm you encounter resistance. Making whatever you want to harm encounter something harder than flesh, bone, or steel".
Hinata lowered her gaze once again to the stone she was holding. This time she didn't try to gather chakra.
She closed her eyes.
Kaito remained silent. Several seconds passed. Nothing happened.
Hinata frowned slightly. Her fingers closed again.
Nothing.
She tried again.
Kaito could feel Hinata's chakra reacting instinctively inside her, but the girl held it back. That alone was harder than it seemed.
She had spent practically her entire life learning to respond to threats using chakra. Now she had to voluntarily separate two concepts that, for any shinobi, were intertwined.
Strength and chakra.
Defense and chakra.
Attack and chakra.
Hinata needed to discover a fourth possibility.
Almost a minute passed. Then Kaito felt something. It was weak. So weak that anyone without Kenbunshoku would have ignored it.
But it was there. A faint pressure around Hinata's fingers.
Kaito smiled.
"That".
Hinata's eyes immediately opened. The sensation disappeared.
"What?".
"You did it".
"Really?".
"For less than a second. But you did it".
Hinata looked at her hand.
"I didn't feel anything".
"Because you were trying to feel it like chakra".
She remained still. Then a small smile appeared on her face.
"Then I can learn it".
Kaito tilted his head slightly.
"I never said you couldn't. Just that I'm a terrible teacher".
"Don't say that, Kaito-sensei, you... you're incredible". Hinata blushed slightly as she spoke.
"Coming from you, that means a lot to me. All right, do it again".
Hinata closed her eyes again. This time there was something different in her expression.
Confidence.
Kaito stepped back and let her try again.
Ten minutes passed. Then twenty.
Then thirty.
Progress was painfully slow. Sometimes Hinata managed to manifest that sensation for a fraction of a second and immediately lost it.
Other times her chakra reacted first and ruined the attempt. Kaito corrected her only when necessary, forcing her to discover the difference on her own.
Finally, Hinata opened her eyes.
"I think I understand something".
"What?".
"When I use chakra, I try to control it".
Kaito nodded.
"But this doesn't want me to control it the same way".
A smile slowly appeared on Kaito's face.
"Continue".
Hinata looked at her palm.
"It's more like... deciding".
Kaito didn't respond. He didn't need to.
Hinata closed her fingers. This time she didn't search for energy within her body. Nor did she mentally trace her tenketsu. She simply decided that her hand had to be stronger.
For a brief instant, an invisible layer covered her knuckles.
It was imperfect and unstable. But Kaito saw it.
Hinata felt it this time.
"Kaito-sensei".
"Yes". Kaito nodded.
Hinata's smile grew.
Kaito picked up another stone and tossed it to her. She caught it.
"Good. Now do it another thousand times".
Her smile disappeared the next moment.
"A thousand?".
"At least".
Hinata stared at him in horror. Unable to believe it.
Kaito crossed his arms.
"You wanted to learn". He said and began walking toward the shade of a tree.
"Let me know when you reach five hundred".
Hinata followed him with her eyes. Kaito calmly sat down against the trunk.
"I'll supervise from here". He said.
"That looks more like resting". Hinata replied.
"A good teacher makes the student work".
Hinata puffed out her cheeks slightly, but then got to work.
That morning, she didn't manage to harden her skin. Nor did she manage to maintain Busoshoku for more than a few moments.
But that didn't matter.
For the first time in her entire life, Hinata Hyūga had used a force that didn't come from her chakra. Not even from her world.
And for Kaito, that was enough. Knowing that ninja could learn to use this power.
Perhaps this way, at least, there would be fewer casualties by the time the war began. Kaito didn't mind making this knowledge public at all.
But then a wicked idea came to mind.
Why not charge for teaching it?
"Not a bad idea". Kaito said to himself.