Rumble.
The waterfall crashed down and battered the rocks below. The pool frothed and white foam trailed slowly across the smoothed stone.
The Wind Release clone of Konome stood halfway up the cliff. Chakra at the soles of her feet gripped the moss slick stone so she would not be washed away.
Her hands were like claws, palms turned outward.
She yanked hard.
Tss!
The wind chakra she had gathered finally burst out. A fierce air pressure formed, like two invisible hands, one above and one below, wrenching at the falling curtain of water.
Splash, splash.
The water was torn apart by the pressure.
Yet the Wind Release Konome did not look pleased.
Her lips were pressed tight. Her whole face was wet. It was impossible to tell whether it was sweat or spray from the waterfall.
A waterfall like this dropped tens or even hundreds of tons of water every single second. To fight that with wind pressure alone was the same as pushing back a mountain.
Forcing the wind to that level made even a tough clone body tremble from the violent outward rush of chakra.
Suddenly her hand meridians stung.
Her grip faltered.
Boom.
The swollen water crashed straight through the wind's obstruction and poured down in one solid mass, exploding at the rocks below.
The clone's chest heaved and she gasped for air.
The strength of Wind Release had two pillars.
First was finesse. Two separate air streams had to act on a single point. The finer the control, the sharper the cut.
Second was burst output. In one instant the user had to release an enormous amount of wind chakra, enough to rip even a waterfall apart.
Now imagine.
What if that kind of power was used to tear human flesh?
And what if you added microscopic control to it?
Kazamate Gaku had once painted that kind of dreamlike realm for her.
If, one day, Konome could release hundreds of tons worth of pressure in a split second, and could pinpoint that pressure on a single cell, that would be the so called supreme realm of a Wind Release shinobi. Under a hurricane nothing in the world could not be cut.
Konome heard that sales pitch and refused straight away.
Who wants to grind here for years chasing some fantasy that only wind freaks who have trained themselves silly believe in?
Supreme realm.
Can it beat Six Paths?
She planned to train Wind Release until it was proficient, then fuse it into the Bloodline Repository. A tangible Truth Seeking Orb was worth far more than a vague future where you might or might not reach some imagined peak.
The Wind Release clone sat there catching her breath, waiting for the meridians in her palms that had been pricked by the overstrong wind to heal on their own.
The nice part about shadow clones was that tiny injuries did not dismiss them. If every little wound broke the jutsu, then the one suffering on this cliff would not be the clone, it would be the real Konome down there moving at her grandma pace.
The Wind Release clone looked down at the main body slowly moving her arms through the air, chakra flowing at her fingertips, and could not help complaining in her head.
Ignore the chakra buzz at her palm and the main body really did look like an old man in the park doing taichi.
Whoosh.
A palm shot forward.
The power was held back. Ultra fine chakra threads vibrated in the acupoints.
Konome closed her eyes and carefully felt the movement pattern of Gentle Fist.
Gentle Fist and regular taijutsu were two opposite roads.
Regular taijutsu also needed chakra.
But it did not fire chakra like a bullet. It used chakra to strengthen the body, then used large scale taijutsu moves to form a complete power chain. The more muscles the move mobilized, the more explosive the power.
The representative was Konoha's Strong Fist that Might Guy used.
In Strong Fist theory, the more of your body you can call on, the stronger the strike.
So most Strong Fist kicks and strikes were big, open, rotating moves. One kick brought in the whole body, plus the twist of the waist.
The clearest example was Leaf Whirlwind.
That move showed Strong Fist perfectly.
Strong Fist just so happened to fit Konome, who had perfect control over her body. That was why she had basically learned the whole style in one morning.
The Takatori clan had its own taijutsu lineage too.
Most Takatori awakened the first stage of Shikotsumyaku at around ten. That was the "corpse" part. They could partially control their flesh.
Stronger than human strength. Super regeneration. No fear of injury. In battle they were like undying corpse demons.
Their taijutsu was the Takatori Style.
It was known for elegance and terror. Outsiders called it the War Dance or the Takatori War Dance. It came from ancient ritual dances for war and sacrifice. It fit the Takatori body like a glove.
Half of every move was flowery, grand, and beautiful. The other half was vicious and killing.
If the Hyūga were the Eight Trigrams Palms, then the Takatori were closer to taichi. For a Takatori, whose control over their own flesh was high, to combine hardness and softness was something every child could do.
With such a powerful body, plus the dazzling war dance, the title of Mist's number one taijutsu clan settled naturally on the Takatori.
In the original timeline, the taijutsu that Kimimaro used was a sword branch of the Takatori Style.
It looked refined and aloof, like a noble young lord.
Now Konome had three taijutsu currents in her hands. After feeling all three deeply, she found Gentle Fist was very different from both.
Strong Fist was pure power and speed.
The War Dance combined hard and soft, beautiful yet hiding a blade, balanced.
Gentle Fist, excluding the Yang Eight Trigrams part, was all about sending chakra into the enemy's organs. As long as you landed the touch, the rest was a set follow up. It was basically a one strike crippling style.
So Gentle Fist had no need for big, explosive kicks and punches.
Since it hit tenketsu directly, it did not need raw destructive power. The main attack method was combining palms and fingers with footwork.
The other key point was accuracy and speed.
Chakra had to move inside the body like an arm, go where you pointed.
Like a wound up throwing needle. Your finger tapped and the hidden force was already inside the target.
Once the chakra was sealed, the fight was over.
When Konome trained Eight Trigrams, she discovered it demanded a strong Byakugan more than it demanded fixed taijutsu motions.
Which meant it could be used with other schools.
Strong Fist and Gentle Fist were opposites.
But she happened to have the Takatori War Dance that linked hard and soft. If she could use that to fuse Gentle Fist and Strong Fist, taking the best of both and throwing away the clutter, then she might really create a taijutsu that belonged only to her.
The Takatori Sun Chasing Style.
If she then added the Yang Eight Trigrams and slapped on nature transformation, a single Eight Trigrams Vacuum Palm with Wind Release added would fully merge taijutsu and ninjutsu.
She would walk even farther down the road of the strongest taijutsu shinobi.
Her mind swirled with odd ideas like the waves rolling in the pool just ahead. As her chakra flowed she could not stop them.
She had a very strong feeling.
When her Sun Chasing Style reached completion, that would be the moment she stepped into Kage class and officially joined the ranks of the true powerhouses of the Shinobi World.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Don't forget to add this story to your Library, drop a review, and leave a Power Stone if you enjoyed it!
Craving more chapters? Join my Patron to unlock advance releases and dive deeper into the story!
[email protected]/_theon
Change @ to "a"