Disclaimer:
Naruto and all of its characters belong to Masashi Kishimoto.
I own nothing but the original characters I make.
“Dialogue”
‘Thoughts’
-Author notes-
Chapter 13: The Prodigy Sister
Sho stared at the empty clearing before him.
“Yeah…this is much better for some reason.”
The next match of the tournament was taking place in the early afternoon hours, so Sho had decided to get some exercise during the morning.
But the mood inside the clan felt heavy for some reason.
He could not help but feel hundreds of eyes on him every second.
Now everyone had become aware of his change.
It was no longer a rumor passed in between mouths in the hallways.
The entire clan had seen him fight and win, with their own eyes.
However, here in this clearing, Sho felt at peace and could practice without worries.
“Okay, enough of that… let’s get to work.” He began with a long run.
The next two hours were brutal.
He pushed himself through his routine…running, conditioning, and Gentle Fist forms.
Thanks to that grueling 30-day quest, Sho had grown accustomed to pushing his body every day, so this no longer felt like a chore, but something he wanted to do anyway.
And as his stamina improved, it also became easier and less painful to do.
Another thing that he liked was that as he went through his routine, he had the chance to think more clearly.
‘Hanabi is stronger, faster and more skilled than me.
If I want to beat her, I need to use my head…and my biggest strength.’ He looked down at himself.
There was only one strong point on him right now, and that would be his stamina, because that is the one aspect he had been working hard to improve over the past month.
He had been focused on his training, particularly on endurance training, pushing his body past the point of exhaustion.
His lungs burned, his legs trembled, but he didn’t stop.
‘Keep going.
Don’t stop.
Don’t give up.’ His determination and his tolerance to pain were his biggest strengths, and he would need to make use of them.
Near the end of his session, he felt something shift in his body before a system notification appeared before him.
[Skill Update]
[Endurance: Novice (Level 8) → Novice (Level 9)
Your body is adapting to sustained physical stress.
You can now push yourself further than before.]
Sho smiled, collapsing onto the grass.
‘Level nine already.’ He paused.
“Mmm…” He glanced at the words again.
Next to the word Endurance was the word “Novice.
This was not the only one of his skills that had that word on it.
His knowledge about videogames from a previous life told him that this was an indication that the skill was going to go through an upgrade at some point, evolving into a superior version of itself.
And there was a good chance that would happen at level 10.
Of course, he couldn’t be sure until it happened.
The System itself would not respond to any of his questions, and he could only depend on the information he was given to speculate on.
‘Whatever this system is…it doesnt seem to have any sort of intelligence of its own.
It’s nothing more than a program that reacts to my environment and actions.’ Thatdidn’tt explain much.
Like…where did it come from and why did he have it?
He shook his head, pushing the useless thought aside.
This was not the time to be questioning this.
What he needed to do now was get some rest before his match.
‘It is finally time I teach that brat to have some respect for his older brother.’ Sho thought.
<><>
The tournament grounds were already crowded when Sho arrived.
His body was completely recovered from the morning’s training and was now ready to face anything.
Sho scanned the crowd, searching for familiar faces.
Hinata was in the stands, her hands clasped together, and her eyes filled with worry and hope.
He gave her a small nod, and she smiled back.
His eyes found his father.
Hiashi sat in his position of honor, looking back at him.
But there was something different in his gaze today…a flicker of curiosity, perhaps, or concern.
But Sho didn’t know what he could be concerned about.
‘He’s watching me.
He’s probably wondering if yesterday was a fluke.’
Sho looked away.
‘It wasn’t a fluke.
And today, I’ll prove it.’
“Hyuga Shokuhi versus Hyuga Hanabi.
Proceed to the center.”
Sho stepped forward, his heart pounding.
Across the courtyard, Hanabi walked with the confident stride of someone who had never doubted herself for a single moment.
Her white eyes met his, cold and dismissive.
“Shokuhi,” she said, her voice carrying the same disdain she’d always shown him.
“I’m surprised you made it this far, but it ends here.”
“Yes, well… let’s see about that,” Sho replied.
Hanabi’s lips curled into a smirk.
“I’ll end this quick, brother.”
The elder raised his hand.
“Begin.”
Hanabi moved like water…fluid, graceful, and unstoppable.
Her first strike came faster than Sho could predict.
His body reacted on instinct, throwing itself to the side, but her palm still caught his shoulder.
He felt his chakra point lock up immediately, his arm going numb.
‘First strike.
And I’m already disabled.’ Sho had expected it would go this way.
Hanabi was much faster than him, and her moves were incredibly precise, always finding the weak points.
“Pathetic,” Hanabi murmured, her voice carrying just loud enough for the crowd to hear.
“Is this really the best you can do?”
Sho gritted his teeth, switching to his other side.
“No…I’m just getting started.”
“Are you?” Hanabi attacked again, her strikes coming in rapid succession.
Each one was precise, devastating, aimed with surgical accuracy at his tenketsu points.
Sho blocked two, dodged three, and took a fourth to his chest.
His chakra flow stuttered, his body beginning to shut down.
He frowned.
‘She’s too fast…I can’t avoid her strikes.’
The fight continued.
Hanabi’s strikes were relentless, each one landing with devastating precision.
Sho absorbed blow after blow, while his body screamed in protest.
He felt his chakra points close one by one…first his shoulder, then his chest, then his legs.
His movements grew slower and clumsier as he became unable to circulate his chakra.
His vision began to blur.
“You’ve improved, I’ll give you that much,” Hanabi admitted, landing another blow to his ribs.
“But not enough.
You’re still weak.
Still not good enough.”
Sho gasped, stumbling back.
His legs were trembling, his body screaming for him to fall.
“You are right, Hanabi…my technique cannot be compared to yours,” Sho said while fighting to keep his legs straight.
“Are you surrendering?” Hanabi asked as she approached, ready to attack again.
“No…I am not surrendering…” He forced himself to stand upright, meeting Hanabi’s gaze.
“I’m not done yet.”
Hanabi’s smirk faltered, just slightly.
“You should be.
I’ve hit you a dozen times, closing a dozen Tenkensu.
You should be struggling to stay on your feet….”
“I know.” Sho took a ragged breath.
“But I’m still standing.”
[Skill Activation]
Endurance: Novice (Level 9).
Allows the user to push the body past its normal limits for an extended period of time.
Sho felt something shift inside him.
A familiar warmth spread through his body, and his obstacles faded away.
‘I can keep going.
I can still fight.’
He forced himself forward, his body moving despite the pain.
His strikes were clumsy, imprecise, but they came.
“What-” Hanabi’s eyes widened.
“How are you still moving?”
“Because I refuse to fall,” Sho said, his voice ragged.
Hanabi’s attacks grew more desperate, more reckless.
She was getting tired.
He could see it in her movements, her breathing, the slight tremor in her hands.
‘She’s spent her whole life being the best.
She’s never fought someone who wouldn’t stay down.’
Sho absorbed another blow to his chest.
He felt his ribs crack, felt the pain surge through his body.
But he didn’t fall.
‘Just a little longer.
Just a little more.’
[Warning: User’s Vitality is reaching its limit] The letters appeared out of the corner of his vision in bright red color.
‘I see.
So even the Endurance skill has its own limit.
If I take too much damage, I will still collapse…’
Hanabi lunged forward, her palm aimed at his chest.
It was a powerful strike, meant to finish him.
But then…something unexpected happened.
[Endurance: Novice (Level 10)]
[Skill Evolution Unlocked!]
Sho’s eyes opened widely.
‘There it is.
After so much training.’
[Endurance: Intermediate (Level 1)]
Description: Your body has adapted to sustained physical stress beyond normal limits.
You can now push yourself through pain and exhaustion that would stop others.
When activated, you may temporarily ignore pain and fatigue effects for a short duration.
[New Active Skill Unlocked: Desperate Strike – A last-resort attack performed when the user is on the brink of collapse.
High risk, moderate reward.
Only usable when the user’s vitality is at a critical level.]
Hanabi’s palm reached for his chest.
Sho noticed how sloppy her movements were; her form had become compromised by fatigue.
He sidestepped her attack, just barely, and struck back.
‘Desperate Strike.’
His palm connected with Hanabi’s temple, the impact jarring his arm.
He didn’t have enough chakra left to properly target her tenketsu, but the sheer force of the blow was enough.
Hanabi’s eyes widened.
She stumbled, her hand going to her head.
“That’s…
that’s impossible.”
“Nothing’s impossible,” Sho said quietly.
Hanabi swayed on her feet.
Her eyes were glassy, unfocused.
She took one more step forward, then collapsed.
The courtyard went silent.
The elder raised his hand, his voice carrying across the stunned crowd.
“Ehm…winner: Hyuga Shokuhi.”
Sho barely heard the announcement.
His legs gave out beneath him, and he collapsed to his knees, gasping for breath.
‘I won.
I actually won.’
He looked up, searching the crowd.
Hinata was on her feet, her hands over her mouth, tears streaming down her face.
She was smiling…a brilliant, radiant smile that made everything worth it.
Hanabi was being helped off the field by two servants, her eyes still unfocused.
And Hiashi…
Hiashi sat in his position of honor with a cold expression on his face.
But there was something else in his eyes.
Shock…just pure shock.
“Did you see that, Father?” He muttered.
Sho tried to stand upright, but his body wouldn’t cooperate.
His legs were trembling, his arms were numb, and his vision was swimming.
‘I need to get up.
I need to walk off the field.’
He pushed himself, swaying dangerously.
One of the servants approached, reaching out to help him.
“I’m fine,” he said, his voice barely above a whisper.
“I can walk on my own.”
He took a step forward.
Then another.
Each step was agony, but he refused to fall.
Refused to be carried off like a broken doll.
He walked off the field with his head held high.
The Hyuga clan was going to remember this moment for a very long time.
The day the useless spare defeated one of their most promising rising stars.
[Status Update – End of Chapter 13]
Name: Hyuga Shokuhi
Level: 3
Title: The Unbreakable
Stats:
Strength: 6
Agility: 6
Vitality: 6
Perception: 6
Chakra Capacity: 5
Chakra Control: 5
Status Effects:
Chakra Vein Constriction (Mild) – Permanent
Brittle Bones (Mild) – Permanent
Byakugan Inefficiency – Permanent
Passive Skills:
Endurance: Intermediate (Level 1) (↑ from Novice Level 9) – Your body has adapted to sustained physical stress beyond normal limits.
When activated, you may temporarily ignore pain and fatigue effects for a short duration.
Shuriken Throw: Novice (Level 6) – Increases accuracy when throwing shuriken and kunai by 35%.
Active Skills:
Clone Technique: Novice (Level 2) – Creates two tangible illusions of the user.
Clones have no substance but are visually identical.
Gentle Fist: Novice (Level 9) – Basic understanding of Hyuga Gentle Fist techniques.
Strikes are still clumsy and imprecise.
Basic techniques mastered: Palm Bottom (Shōtei).
Desperate Strike – A last-resort attack performed when the user is on the brink of collapse.
High risk, moderate reward.
Only usable when the user’s vitality is at a critical level.
Quests Active:
Eyes of the Clan – Objective: Perform well in the next clan tournament to demonstrate your growth.