White patterns were carved into the sky, transforming into falling flowers that filled the air.
Jin reached out and caught a drifting snowflake.
"It's snowing."
The ground was covered in a layer of pure white.
Although he had only changed from short sleeves to long sleeves and shorts to long pants, he didn't feel the cold.
One of the great benefits of Internal Cultivation was invulnerability to heat and cold.
Walking down the street, his gaze swept over the passing ninjas. Although they were dressed thinly, their resistance was a result of physical training and had nothing to do with chakra.
Resistance training against heat and cold began in the Ninja Academy. Having grown accustomed to various hardships from a young age, they could naturally endure it.
There was also pain tolerance training.
He walked to the old place.
The dilapidated, abandoned training ground was already covered in pristine white snow.
Only the ground in front of a wooden stake was exposed.
He saw a figure striking the wooden stake as if venting frustration.
"Hyūga Kiyoshi!" Jin called out.
Clad in white, Hyūga Kiyoshi didn't turn back immediately. Instead, he adjusted his forehead protector before turning around.
"Jin." Hyūga Kiyoshi greeted him. "I thought none of you would come."
Since becoming a ninja, he was the only one who still came here to train regularly.
He hadn't seen Uchiha Jin or the others for a long time.
Jin walked over and shrugged.
"We're doing those 'playing house' missions."
Looking after the elderly, babysitting children, moving cargo, planting rice, harvesting wheat.
To him, it was just playing house.
Hearing this, the smile on Hyūga Kiyoshi's face looked a bit forced.
He actually yearned to do those 'playing house' missions with teammates.
Unfortunately.
Jin asked as if he hadn't noticed anything wrong with Kiyoshi, "Where are your teammates?"
He had been asleep at the time, so he didn't know who Kiyoshi's teammates were.
Hyūga Kiyoshi fell silent. He looked down at the snow covering the ground beneath his feet, as if he too were buried underneath.
Wasn't the Hyūga family just like this? The Branch House members were corpses buried in the soil.
He suddenly looked up at Jin.
"Uchiha Jin, fight me."
Bam!
A loud noise rang out as Hyūga Kiyoshi's body slammed into the wooden stake.
The stake snapped, and he lay on the ground.
Watching the falling snow, he suddenly started laughing. The laughter grew louder and louder.
"Heheh... Hahahahaha!!!"
He laughed until tears flowed from the corners of his eyes.
The pain in his body didn't even match a fraction of the pain in his heart.
"The gap is really huge, you monster."
He hadn't been able to react at all. He was defeated in a single strike.
"I don't agree with that description."
Jin stood on the ground, looking down at him like an insurmountable mountain.
Uchiha.
Truly terrifying.
"I have no interest in prying into your Hyūga clan's messy affairs. But if you like being a punching bag, I'm happy to oblige."
One look at Hyūga Kiyoshi's state, and he knew it was because of the Hyūga clan's bullshit.
Every year at the Ninja Academy, there was always a Hyūga member who had an emotional breakdown. Most couldn't handle it right after being branded with the Caged Bird Seal and gradually became withdrawn.
Someone like Hyūga Kiyoshi, who only broke down after graduation, was actually rare.
After all, he was someone who had been held back for two years.
Jin wasn't surprised.
"Is that so?"
Kiyoshi laughed until he was tired, then suddenly asked a question.
"Jin, you're a genius at creating ninjutsu, right?"
"So what?"
"Can you develop a jutsu to remove the Caged Bird Seal?"
Jin didn't answer. Instead, he looked up at the sky.
Kiyoshi looked too. At the same time, he began to recount his experience.
"I actually didn't care much about the Caged Bird Seal at first. I just thought if I stayed away from the Main House, it would be fine. As long as I stayed far away from them, I could have freedom."
"But I didn't expect that even with that mindset, I still couldn't escape."
"During the Genin team assignments, I was taken away by my uncle and became the guard of a Main House member, Hyūga Hiashi. They say guard, but it's really just being his exclusive servant."
"My uncle even told me to be grateful for the family's great kindness! Hahaha! Funny, isn't it?"
Kiyoshi's face became twisted.
"My parents died for the Hyūga Main House. Do I have to follow in their footsteps?"
"Why?!"
Just because he was from the Branch House, he had to sacrifice his whole family's lives to protect the Main House.
His parents had already sacrificed themselves for this.
Wasn't that enough?
Jin looked down at Kiyoshi, whose face was full of hatred.
Just how much hatred was buried within the Hyūga clan?
If one day the Caged Bird Seal disappeared...
What would happen?
It sounded quite interesting.
The corners of Jin's mouth curled up.
"Value. What value can you give me?"
Hyūga Kiyoshi stared blankly at Uchiha Jin. He had only been venting, looking for someone to listen.
But things didn't seem so simple.
"You can?"
Kiyoshi wanted to ask if he could really do it. But he had heard of Jin's reputation within the clan.
The creator of Internal Cultivation.
It was said that many people were desperately farming merit points just to exchange for that jutsu.
He also knew about the Four Powers taijutsu created by Jin.
Various titles were piled onto his head endlessly.
Hidden Genius, Hardworking Genius, Genius Comparable to the Second Hokage.
Too many titles.
So what if... what if?
What if he could really achieve what every Branch House member dreamed of?
Hyūga Kiyoshi quickly got up and knelt in the snow. He slammed his forehead heavily onto the ground, making a dull thud.
A trace of crimson stained the snow.
"Hyūga Kiyoshi is willing to offer everything for Lord Jin!"
He was willing to bet everything. No Branch House member could refuse the temptation of removing the Caged Bird Seal.
"No, no rush right now." Jin shook his head, his smile carrying a hidden malice.
"When I actually do it, I hope you won't go back on your word."
He hoped the Hyūga clan could handle the consequences.
Jin sat on a relatively intact wooden stake.
He watched Kiyoshi's retreating figure.
He was confident about removing the Caged Bird Seal.
After all, he was someone with a Goldfinger. How could he be stumped by the Caged Bird Seal?
However, the Caged Bird Seal was tied to the soul, so it wasn't something that could be solved simply.
"It's difficult to do for the time being."
Jin glanced at the deduced method for removing the Caged Bird Seal.
Switch bodies, then unravel it like a sealing jutsu.
That was no different from asking someone to die.
"Jin, what are you thinking about?"
At this moment, Kushina Uzumaki and Minato Namikaze arrived late.
"I just saw Hyūga Kiyoshi. He didn't seem to be in a good mood."
Jin responded nonchalantly.
"Hyūga Kiyoshi, huh? Haven't seen him in a long time." Minato looked at the blurry figure in the distance.
Since becoming a ninja squad, they often saw other peers during missions.
Only Hyūga Kiyoshi had never appeared again.
It seemed to be because of internal issues in the Hyūga clan.
Minato didn't know about the Caged Bird Seal.
It wasn't something everyone knew about.
"Next time we run into him, we definitely have to ask where he's been."
Kushina didn't know about the Hyūga clan's affairs either. Such things usually only circulated among ninja clans.
"Hopefully."
Jin looked at the two. They were wearing simple casual clothes, not bundled up heavily. Wearing the same set of clothes all year round.
It was ridiculous.
"What are you planning to teach us today?" Kushina asked enthusiastically.
Jin rolled his eyes.
"I plan to teach Minato. If you can learn it, you can learn along."
"Who wants to learn your stuff?"
Kushina snorted, made a face at Jin, and pushed Minato forward.
Minato smiled awkwardly.
"By the way, Minato, what's the name of that jutsu you created?" Jin suddenly asked with a strange expression.
Minato perked up at the mention of this.
"Dazzling Dance of Gale: Rapid Wind Cry! Fourth Style! Isn't it a cool name?"
Jin: "..."
Kushina: "..."
"What kind of ghost name is that?!"
Kushina's face was full of rejection. Why give it such a long name?
She didn't understand.
Jin also rolled his eyes.
"Don't call it that in the future. I'm afraid you'll be beaten to death before you finish saying it."
Minato scratched his face awkwardly. He thought it sounded great.
"From now on, call it Sweeping Blade (Tàqián Zhǎn)."
"But this name doesn't really fit."
Minato wanted to refuse. The name 'Blade' sounded like it was related to Kenjutsu.
He felt it wasn't as good as the name he came up with.
"It fits perfectly with the name of the jutsu I'm going to teach you."
Jin said meaningfully.
He took out a kunai from his ninja pouch.
"I'll let you experience it first."
"I can't ask for more."
Minato also took out a kunai.
The next moment, the two figures collided. Clang! Sparks flew from the friction of the kunai.
Kushina was already sitting in a tree watching their battle.
Jin and Minato crossed past each other. A wisp of wind began to wrap around Jin's body.
Minato frowned. He felt a portion of the chakra in his body disappear.
The next moment, the two collided again.
Clang! The two separated quickly.
Minato saw the wind swirling around Jin, and his internal chakra decreased significantly again.
"What a weird ninjutsu."
"Minato, watch closely now."
Jin held the kunai with both hands and slashed downward at Minato from a distance.
"Steel Tempest!!" (Zhāngāng Shǎn!)
A blue wind blade appeared out of thin air.
Accompanied by a shrill whistle, it arrived in front of him instantly.
Minato's pupils dilated. He couldn't react in time.
He immediately used Sweeping Blade, using all his strength to fly up with the wind.
The flying blue wind blade swept past.
Only the sound of Chi chi chi was heard continuously.
Minato looked back.
A path had been cut through the forest behind him.
"A ninjutsu created specifically for you, to make up for your lack of offensive power."
Jin grinned.
The principle was to first seal a chakra-absorbing jutsu into the kunai. When clashing with the enemy, it would absorb their chakra.
Then, use internal chakra to transform into wind and communicate with the chakra inside the kunai.
Form two layers of wind pressure, inner and outer, to maintain stability. But it had to be released quickly, or the chakra inside the kunai would dissipate.
The power depended on the mastery of this jutsu, which could increase its upper limit.
Goldfinger was forever god.
Although the creation time was less than ten seconds, he had spent a whole night mastering it.
"So strong!"
Minato exclaimed in admiration.