A light-blue chakra barrier appeared as he spun at high speed.
Then it collided head-on with the massive fireball, erupting into an ear-splitting roar!
Blinding light and scorching shockwaves surged outward in all directions, lifting dust and dirt off the ground in an instant. For a moment, the air nearby rippled in visible, wave-like distortions!
Mikami Yuu flipped in midair, landed steadily, and stared hard at the flames ahead.
Strictly speaking, a C-rank jutsu couldn't really hurt a chūnin like Hyūga Hizashi. The problem was that Hizashi had no idea—couldn't even imagine—that an Academy student like Mikami Yuu would use that jutsu. He'd been hit by an information gap.
So to avoid serious injury, when Mikami Yuu released Great Fireball, he deliberately aimed a little to the side. With the reaction speed Hizashi had shown, he could have simply used Body Flicker to dodge to the side. The fact that he used Rotation instead was a bit unexpected.
Ten or so seconds later,
the flames were shredded and extinguished by the spinning chakra, and thick smoke rolled outward.
Hizashi's figure reappeared.
Compared to a few minutes ago, he looked slightly disheveled. Part of his sleeve had been burned away, and a patch of his hair and shoulder was singed black. But his Byakugan eyes were locked on Mikami Yuu, his gaze complicated—fear mixed with an indescribable shock.
"You…"
"I surrender."
Mikami Yuu raised both hands in a French salute. "That's all the jutsu I can use. My chakra's basically spent too. Looks like veteran ninja seniors really are stronger."
"…How did you evade my Byakugan just now?"
After a few seconds of silence, Hizashi asked.
"Hyūga Kamon and I are classmates. When we train, I've observed him before. Based on that, I guessed the Byakugan's field of view isn't a perfect 360 degrees, but has a tiny blind spot at the rear, off to the diagonal-back. So…"
Mikami Yuu's answer was half-truth, half-lie.
It was true that branch-family Byakugan had a blind spot—but he'd learned that from reading the manga in his previous life.
Still…
Claiming it came from "everyday observation" wasn't something that could be easily disproven. In theory, it was possible—just usually only in theory.
Across from him,
Hizashi stared at Mikami Yuu again, as if trying to see through him completely, then let out a long breath.
"Alright… Your jutsu really is unusual, and your tactics are flexible. With that observation and analysis, no wonder you beat Kamon.
"But your taijutsu is your weakness—too rough. Against a real expert, once you can't use Substitution to create distance, or once your movement pattern is read, your situation becomes extremely dangerous."
As he spoke,
Hizashi walked forward a few steps, found a relatively flat spot in the center, and began reviewing and breaking it down.
"Watch carefully. When you retreated after your first ambush, your center of gravity leaned back too far, which delayed your follow-up movement. If I had chosen to close in aggressively, it would've been hard for you to defend.
"The correct approach should be…"
To be honest, Neji's dad was a stand-up guy. The moment the spar ended, he immediately started honoring what he'd promised. He explained key details one by one—dodging, blocking, transferring force, chaining movements—and demonstrated them on the spot.
These were all "basic" things, but they were crucial. The simplest truths were often the deepest. Experience distilled from real combat like this was hard to learn anywhere else—especially for a civilian ninja like Mikami Yuu, who lacked a systematic taijutsu lineage.
Mikami Yuu stood to the side, watching without blinking, trying to carve every detail into his mind.
About twenty minutes later,
Hizashi stopped teaching.
Mikami Yuu asked a few questions, Hizashi answered them, and the lesson finally came to an end.
"That's it for today."
Hizashi brushed dust and scorch marks off his clothes. "Remember—taijutsu is the foundation of a ninja. No matter how exquisite your ninjutsu is, it still needs a strong body and agile movement to support it. Practice the techniques I taught you."
"Thank you for the guidance."
Mikami Yuu bowed slightly.
This spar—and the follow-up instruction—had yielded far more than he'd expected.
Hizashi said nothing more. With a few light leaps, he vanished into the trees at the edge of the training ground, leaving Mikami Yuu deep in thought.
…
Only after he'd walked some distance away
did Hizashi slow down, turning his head to look back toward the training ground, thoughtful.
He'd come here simply to see Mikami Yuu's Three Basic Jutsu in person and confirm what exactly had made Hyūga Kamon so confused.
After sparring, with his more refined Byakugan and stronger taijutsu than Kamon, Hizashi did see certain things—
But precisely because he saw them clearly, he couldn't understand them.
The principle of Substitution was a high-speed Body Flicker under a feint—its mechanism had nothing to do with Flying Thunder God.
Normally, it was only suitable when a stronger opponent bullied a weaker one. In an even match, it was hard to find openings to cast it. Even if you managed to use it, it would be for dodging a single critical move—once was already lucky, twice was unrealistic.
But Mikami Yuu…
How could anyone use Substitution like a combo chain?
And the transitions were so smooth every time—like it had no cooldown at all.
It was practically…
like the concept of "Substitution Technique" itself.
As for Transformation Technique, that was also absurd. Yes, the Byakugan had a blind spot—but it was only about one degree. Transformation was just a visual feint, a mirage. How could a living person suddenly have no detectable chakra?
A strange kid.
Hizashi thought and thought, but still couldn't make sense of it. In the end he could only shake his head, suppress the questions for now, and leave.
…
Back at the training ground,
Mikami Yuu stood there until he had replayed and digested Hizashi's demonstrations in his head, then finally lifted his head and let out a long breath.
Then he focused on the galgame system.
He remembered that while he was fighting Hizashi, a few notifications had flashed by:
[Ding! High-quality potential romanceable target detected: "Gentle Fist"]
[Currently does not meet romance requirements. Cannot be romanced.]
[Detected infusion of taijutsu knowledge and combat experience. Taijutsu foundation comprehension slightly increased.]
So… it really wasn't true that every "technique" could trigger an [Encounter]. A secret art like Gentle Fist that required Byakugan synergy couldn't enter the romance list. But since the system could still detect it, that meant it was still potentially romanceable—just under stricter conditions.
After confirming that,
Mikami Yuu continued scrolling through the chat log.
~~~
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