"Perfect... come spar with me a bit!"
Hyūga Shinichi extended a sparring invitation to the eldest man, Hyūga Keisuke. Although this was their first meeting, Hyūga Shinichi had already discerned the three individuals' differing personalities from their varied gestures and demeanors.
Hyūga Keisuke was from the Branch Family but possessed outstanding skill. While he showed basic courtesy and respect toward Shinichi, that respect was given to the Main Family status, not to Hyūga Shinichi as an individual.
With the existence of the Caged Bird and the clan system, Shinichi naturally didn't worry about Keisuke's loyalty, but commanding him might not be as easy as he hoped.
Although these individuals were guards assigned by Hiashi, they were, in a way, becoming Shinichi's subordinates.
There were some tasks Shinichi found inconvenient to handle personally and would need others to perform. For this, having a group of skilled and obedient subordinates was very necessary.
Shinichi didn't yet know the exact personality of the woman named Hyūga Mio, but both Hyūga Keisuke and Hyūga Kazutaka were very easy to read.
One was an elite Branch Family ninja with excellent skill and strong personal pride; the other was likely a staunch supporter of the Hyūga clan system and an absolute loyalist to the Main Family.
Despite this being a first impression, Shinichi decided to start with Keisuke. Such people are easy to understand and manage.
Because his confidence and pride stemmed from his own strength, gaining authority over such a subordinate required demonstrating a small amount of awe-inspiring power. Conveniently, Shinichi had just learned a few techniques and wanted to test their effectiveness.
"Sparring with Taijutsu?!"
"Hmm... Shinichi-sama, I rarely train with comrades, so I don't have much control over my strength."
"If you need a sparring partner, why not let Kazutaka do it? Someone of Kazutaka's level should be sufficient to be your partner."
The three clan members clearly knew each other. Hyūga Keisuke scratched his head and looked apologetic when he heard Shinichi's request, politely refusing.
His first few sentences sounded fine, but the last sentence revealed his true thoughts. This Hyūga Keisuke respected only Shinichi's status as a Main Family member, but did not take Shinichi himself seriously.
"Keisuke, since you just returned from the battlefield, it's normal that you don't know much about Shinichi."
"How about this: you briefly exchange moves with Shinichi so you can get acquainted."
Hyūga Hiashi, who rarely showed anything other than a stern face in front of clan members, offered a rare smile. Judging by his tone and manner toward Keisuke, this ninja indeed held a slightly different status and strength.
Shinichi walked to the center of the dojo. Hyūga Mio and Hyūga Kazutaka wisely stepped aside. Hyūga Keisuke, hearing Hiashi's suggestion, scratched his head somewhat helplessly, then slowly walked to stand in front of Hyūga Shinichi:
"Since Hiashi-sama insists, I will be your opponent."
"Shinichi-sama, please put forth your full effort."
As he spoke, Hyūga Keisuke performed a one-handed seal and activated his Byakugan. Across from him, Shinichi also nodded. After activating his Byakugan, he made the first move and performed a series of hand seals.
Multi-Shadow Clone Jutsu!
Dense white mist billowed in the dojo. In front of Hyūga Keisuke, ten Hyūga Shinichis instantly appeared. Shinichi's original body stood subtly at the back of the group. The ten new Shadow Clones moved, surrounding Hyūga Keisuke.
"Multi-Shadow Clone Jutsu?"
Seeing Shinichi perform the technique, Keisuke was extremely surprised. As a member of the Hyūga Clan, this was the first time he had seen a clan member use such a technique in combat. Moreover... as far as he knew... wasn't the Multi-Shadow Clone Jutsu a Forbidden Jutsu?!
Despite his inner confusion, the battle-hardened ninja showed no fear in the face of multiple enemies. He spread his arms and adopted a fighting stance.
The moment he was ready, the Hyūga Shinichis surrounding him suddenly raised their hands, and deep blue, lion-shaped chakra immediately enveloped their fists. All the Shadow Clones executed the Gentle Step: Twin Lion Fists, then rushed toward him under Keisuke's astonished gaze.
"This...."
Before he could speak, the clones' attacks had already arrived one after another. Although the Shadow Clones had low resistance to damage and divided the original body's chakra, their form was identical to the original, and even the Byakugan could not distinguish the original body. Crucially, the clones' strength was not significantly different from the original's, making their attacks a serious threat to Keisuke.
What's more, the Gentle Fist does not rely on so-called "attack power." Even the clones' attacks, if they landed, would still seal the appropriate chakra points.
In a sense, this technique was perfectly compatible with the Hyūga's Gentle Fist, as the Shadow Clones significantly increased the opportunities to land a Gentle Fist strike.
Although Hyūga Keisuke couldn't distinguish the original body from the many Shadow Clones, the Byakugan's nearly 360-degree field of vision allowed him to accurately respond to Shinichi's surrounding attack.
As a fellow Hyūga, Keisuke's Taijutsu ability was far superior to that of the young Kakashi whom Shinichi had fought earlier. While deftly avoiding and maneuvering to dodge attacks, he often found opportunities to counterattack.
In just a few breaths, nearly half of the surrounding Shadow Clones were dispersed.
As the clones turned into white smoke and disappeared, Shinichi carefully registered the pain relayed back to his main body.
The pain was like pinpricks and was nowhere near as intense as he had imagined. This was his first time using the Multi-Shadow Clone Technique in actual combat. This level of side effect was insignificant.
Multi-Shadow Clone Jutsu!
As Hyūga Shinichi performed the hand seals again, white mist engulfed the entire dojo. When the mist cleared, the dojo was densely packed with Shinichi's Shadow Clones.
Looking at the hundreds of enemies performing the Twin Lion Fists, even Hyūga Keisuke felt his scalp crawl.
"This... so many!"
Even though he was used to large battles, he couldn't help but be shocked by the sheer scale of the Multi-Shadow Clones. Even he wasn't confident he could avoid being hit amidst so many simultaneous attacks.
As the clones swarmed him, Hyūga Keisuke was overwhelmed. Although his skill was high, two fists couldn't fight four hands, let alone hundreds. Under the siege, Keisuke inevitably failed to defend against every attack.
If this were any other ninja, whether Genin, Chūnin, or even Jōnin, Keisuke's resilience would have prevented physical pain from compromising his combat effectiveness. But Hyūga Shinichi's Shadow Clones were different...
Even the most basic of their punches could seal a small section of his chakra points, hindering the flow of chakra. Under Shinichi's siege, Keisuke's movements grew slower and slower until the chakra flow in his body was completely blocked, making it impossible to perform the Gentle Fist.
Even at this point, dozens of Shadow Clones in the dojo remained undispelled.
"Shinichi-sama..."
"I... I lose..."
Hyūga Keisuke was not a super genius like Neji and could not independently develop high-level Gentle Fist Ninjutsu.
As a Branch Family member, he had not mastered techniques like the Kaiten, which were reserved for the Main Family. The only technique he used in the battle was the standard Gentle Fist. He was excellent, but he had no good solution against the siege of the Shadow Clones.
If it were Hiashi, dealing with a siege of Shadow Clones would be a simple matter of performing the Kaiten. But Hyūga Keisuke could not... The Byakugan greatly raised the lower limit of the Hyūga, but their upper limit was not so high...
Unable to feel the chakra in his body, Hyūga Keisuke decisively admitted defeat. However, his expression was extremely grim. It was an embarrassing and frustrating loss.
"You are very powerful!"
"What you lack is not skill or ability, but a lack of Ninjutsu."
"From now on, I will call you Uncle Keisuke."
"Don't worry. Since you have become my guard, I will find a way to make you stronger!"
Hyūga Shinichi was not smug about his victory. He walked up to Hyūga Keisuke and promised him solemnly.
His words caused Keisuke to look up at Shinichi in surprise. At the same time, Hyūga Mio, who was attending nearby, finally showed some emotion in her eyes, looking toward Hyūga Shinichi. As for Hyūga Kazutaka, seeing Shinichi defeat Hyūga Keisuke only intensified the reverence in his eyes.
"Shinichi-sama, you are too kind. Please just call me by my name." Hyūga Keisuke knelt again, and this time, it was far more sincere than before.
"Multi-Shadow Clone Jutsu... the improvement this technique provides to my strength exceeds my imagination."
Shinichi himself was surprised by how easily he defeated Hyūga Keisuke. Having only observed Naruto's ineffective clones, Shinichi had a skewed perception of the technique's power.
It was only after using it himself that he understood how terrifying this Forbidden Jutsu truly was. The technique provided an outlet for the massive chakra reserves in Shinichi's body. Moreover... the compatibility of this technique with the Hyūga's Gentle Fist far exceeded Shinichi's expectations.
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