A puff of smoke burst forth.
Hyūga Ming reappeared at the spot where the shuriken had been a split second earlier. He immediately ducked his head—
Thud!
Another shuriken shot past his back and embedded itself deeply into the wall.
Almost one-third of his chakra was gone in an instant.
"So Substitution has basically turned into Flying Thunder God now…"
Ming rubbed his chin thoughtfully.
"But the chakra cost is way too high."
Before job advancement, his chakra only increased by 10 points per level. That limitation was painfully obvious now.
He glanced at his remaining EXP.
About two thousand points left.
Ming spent 1,200 EXP upgrading Gentle Fist to Level 5.
Lv.3 → Lv.4: 400 EXP
Lv.4 → Lv.5: 800 EXP
A massive amount of Gentle Fist knowledge flooded into his mind.
Along with it came Eight Trigrams Thirty-Two Palms
and Eight Trigrams Sixty-Four Palms.
More important than the techniques themselves—
Was the understanding behind Gentle Fist.
"Level five… that already puts me on par with the main branch?"
No need for the Hyūga main family to pass anything down.
He had already grasped their secret techniques on his own.
"And Air Palm and Rotation are still considered separate skills."
Ming moved his hands slowly, one up and one down.
Blue chakra shimmered between his palms, stable and controlled.
Only when he withdrew his hands did the glow fade away.
"Now for the last one…"
His gaze landed on Fire Release · Unquenchable Flame—
the skill he valued most.
If you could fight at long range, why bother with close combat?
He had 925 EXP left.
He dumped 100 EXP into Unquenchable Flame.
[Fire Release · Unquenchable Flame (Lv.2) – EXP 0/200]
Again.
[Fire Release · Unquenchable Flame (Lv.3) – EXP 0/400]
Again.
[Fire Release · Unquenchable Flame (Lv.4) – EXP 0/800]
The principles and applications of Unquenchable Flame continuously poured into his mind.
At this point, he could already derive new techniques from it—
But as long as they fell under Unquenchable Flame's framework,
they wouldn't form separate skills.
Only 125 EXP remained. There was nothing left worth spending it on.
Ming clenched his fist.
Flames ignited around it—
yet the fire caused him no harm at all.
"Consumes about 0.5 chakra per second…
If I keep it active, I can maintain it for roughly four minutes."
The higher the skill level, the more obvious his chakra shortage became.
But that wasn't a real problem.
As long as he had enough EXP, he could keep getting stronger.
No bottlenecks. No ceilings.
"Tomorrow, I'll keep going."
He intended to harvest every single genin in Konoha.
For now—
Sleep.
Fire Hokage's Office
Hiruzen Sarutobi slowly exhaled a cloud of smoke, looking helplessly at the disciple standing before him.
"Tsunade…"
"Old man, spit it out already. What do you want?"
Tsunade crossed her arms, visibly displeased.
Dragging her out in the middle of the night—
Given this old pervert's reputation, she was highly suspicious, her eyes scanning him warily.
Hiruzen felt deeply wounded.
Just how bad is my image in her mind now…
"Ahem." He cleared his throat.
"That subordinate of yours—Hyūga Ming. You'd better keep an eye on him."
Hyūga Ming?
Just hearing the name made Tsunade's temples throb.
"What did he do this time?"
Seriously.
If she'd known it would turn out like this, she never would've accepted that mission.
She was supposed to guide the Hyūga main family's heir—
Instead, they'd stuffed a walking disaster into her squad.
And that disaster just happened to be her little brother's boss.
He's definitely doing this on purpose to piss me off.
Not that kind of purpose—
just pure, unfiltered malice.
Hiruzen sighed.
"He set up a public fighting ring today. Caused quite a disturbance."
Konoha wasn't Kumogakure.
They didn't encourage that level of violence.
Ming's behavior was… bad for appearances.
And for some reason, the Uchiha clan hadn't stepped in either.
Tsunade's forehead vein twitched.
"That brat…"
Hiruzen shook his head.
"Konoha doesn't allow public arenas like that. If clients see this and think our ninja are just violent thugs, that's a problem."
Even if that was technically true.
Still, Konoha's image as a peace-loving village had to be maintained.
"Got it," Tsunade said irritably.
She already felt the urge to beat Ming into submission.
Hiruzen hesitated, then added carefully,
"Since he's fallen out with the Hyūga clan and doesn't have much money…
why not take him on more missions? Help him earn some income."
Tsunade's eyes narrowed sharply.
"Old man… what are you plotting?"
She smelled conspiracy.
Hiruzen waved it off.
"Nothing. He's your subordinate—help him out a bit.
Leave the injured to the hospital staff for now."
The hospital wasn't useless, after all.
Even if Tsunade pioneered medical ninjutsu, there were plenty of competent medics now.
Tsunade stared at him for a long moment, then turned and left without another word.
Hiruzen released a long breath of smoke, his gaze darkening.
"The Hyūga…"
The Hyūga clan was solid iron—
Konoha's control over them was far too weak.
Most clans had integrated into the village to some extent.
Only the Uchiha and the Hyūga still retained the ability to break away at any moment.
The Uchiha had been pushed out.
The Hyūga, however, chose isolation themselves.
To Hiruzen, they were also a thorn—
not dangerous enough to purge, but far too independent to ignore.
Before, his position had been unstable, forcing him to give up authority.
Now that he was firmly seated as Hokage,
it was time to reclaim that power.
And Hyūga Ming, in his eyes—
Was a crack in the Hyūga clan's fortress.
A perfect opening.
From the shadows, Shimura Danzō slowly stepped forward.
"Hiruzen. The borders are tense. Other villages are restless."
"We need new power. If we can create another God of Shinobi,
only then can Konoha truly stand secure."
Hiruzen adjusted his Hokage hat.
"Danzō, we will not disturb the First's rest.
Konoha's strength is more than enough."
His three disciples had all grown into pillars of the village.
There was Hatake Sakumo.
The major clans.
And himself—along with Danzō.
Konoha was overflowing with talent.
In short—
One versus four? Advantage: us.
"I act for Konoha," Danzō said coldly.
"But I am the Hokage," Hiruzen replied just as firmly.
"You'll regret this, Hiruzen."
Danzō muttered under his breath and turned away.
As for Hyūga Ming?
That had nothing to do with him.
Danzō had ideas about every clan in Konoha—
Except the Hyūga.
That disgusting Caged Bird Seal cut off any possibility from the start.
The Hyūga clan?
Even dogs wouldn't want them.
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