Was the Hyuga clan's unique taijutsu, the Gentle Fist, strong?
Fairly speaking, yes.
At least against humans, it was very strong.
After all, most shinobi in the shinobi world were fragile.
Even those who specialized in taijutsu found it difficult to train their internal organs to be as tough as their muscles.
Under such circumstances, the Hyuga clan's Gentle Fist, which came with built-in penetration, critical damage to internal organs, and the ability to seal the opponent's chakra flow, naturally made many ordinary shinobi who faced them extremely wary.
Unfortunately, Rei Kaguya could not be counted among ordinary shinobi.
In fact, he had always felt that given how fragile most shinobi in this world were, if one could get close enough to fully display the effects of Gentle Fist, the damage caused by directly stabbing the opponent with a kunai would not be much worse than landing a full Gentle Fist combo.
Schlick.
Hanabi Hyuga flashed backward in an extremely sorry state, barely avoiding Rei Kaguya's axe-kick, which had suddenly grown a half-meter-long bone blade from the heel.
If not for the Byakugan's ability to sense the flow of the opponent's chakra, that bladed kick would have cut open more than the clothes at her chest.
It might have cut through her chest, ribs, and even her heart.
So strong…
He was not on the same level as any shinobi she had faced after becoming a jonin.
Was this what a genius jonin from the era of war was like?
Hanabi Hyuga panted heavily while maintaining her stance.
But she was very clear that there was nothing she could do against this man before her, who was like a hedgehog with no opening to strike and who also possessed a tremendous vitality far beyond common sense.
Without exaggeration, even if the other party did not resist and let her land a full Eight Trigrams Sixty-Four Palms, sealing all of his chakra flow, he could still rely on that monstrous body and fight her to a draw.
He might even gain the upper hand.
Huff, huff…
Lord Sixth really was powerful.
In the original history, he faced the encirclement of dozens of Kirigakure Anbu, including Rei Kaguya, alone, didn't he?
To think he could hold out for that long under such an unfavorable situation…
I have to buy him more time.
Seeing Hanabi Hyuga's gaze grow firm for some unknown reason, Rei Kaguya, who had been silently appreciating the fair skin and curving figure revealed through her damaged clothes, put away his relaxed attitude and asked,
"Have you made up your mind not to retreat even one step, young lady of the Hyuga clan? If you do not make way, you really might die."
"I have nowhere to return to anyway. If I can let this sorrow-filled present change even slightly for the better, that is better than hiding on the sidelines in a daze as a pathetic bystander who does nothing."
Along with her words, the blue twin lions on Hanabi Hyuga's hands became even clearer.
Those words also completely confirmed Rei Kaguya's guess that Hanabi Hyuga was a time traveler from more than thirty years in the future.
He gently exhaled.
Then he adopted a slightly more serious attitude, lowering his center of gravity and assuming a stance meant to end the battle quickly.
"I do not quite understand why a noble lady of the main family like you would have nowhere to return to, nor do I understand what you mean by being a bystander… But that does not matter. I should have a way to make you explain it clearly yourself."
Body Flicker.
Hanabi Hyuga's eyes sharpened.
She quickly turned back and struck out with a palm, intending to knock down Rei Kaguya's attack.
But what she had not expected was that the speed Rei Kaguya displayed this time was around fifty percent faster than before.
The counterattack she launched based on the experience she had summarized from their previous exchange missed because of his sudden acceleration.
It also allowed him to close in to a distance where he could engage in close-quarters combat.
Not good!
"Rotation—"
Hanabi Hyuga's body instinctively began to spin, intending to rely on the large amount of chakra released from the tenketsu across her entire body to repel Rei Kaguya, who had closed in.
But when she saw Rei Kaguya's figure get torn apart by the chakra field of Rotation, scattering into water droplets, Hanabi immediately realized that she had fallen into the opponent's trap.
"Water Release: Great Exploding Water Colliding Wave!"
"Water Release: Water Prison Technique."
Rei Kaguya, who had used the Body Flicker Technique to exchange positions with the water clone he had created in advance, completed his hand seals.
His chest swelled high.
Then he spat out an enormous flood in one breath, enough to turn this forest into a swamp.
The heavy current infused with large amounts of chakra quickly broke through Hanabi Hyuga's Rotation.
Her body was tossed up and down like a doll in the surging flood, constantly sinking and rising in the water.
The water clone that Hanabi Hyuga had just scattered was also recycled by Rei Kaguya, who flickered into the water.
It turned into a constantly rotating water sphere, trapping the dazed Hanabi Hyuga inside.
"To be honest, the Water Prison Technique always works quite well when used against you Konoha shinobi…"
Standing atop the flood he had created, Rei Kaguya looked at Hanabi Hyuga inside the Water Prison, who was full of frustration but had no strength left to struggle.
He began considering how to draw out the intelligence he was interested in from her mouth.
Thanks to the famous reputation of "nonflammable trash," Rei Kaguya had not watched any Boruto-related plot before transmigrating.
The only relevant memory he still had some impression of was probably the OOC plotline where Naruto Uzumaki, after becoming the Seventh Hokage, was reverse-exploited by Konoha into becoming a 24/7 corporate slave, buried in official work all day and unable to even return home.
That left Rei Kaguya, who clearly had many questions he wanted to ask, temporarily unsure where to begin.
Should he start with the issue that she claimed to be a legitimate daughter of the Hyuga main family, yet looked around the same age as the current Hyuga clan head, Hiashi Hyuga?
Should he indirectly point out that there was something wrong with her identity, then use that as an entry point to ask some questions about the future?
Just as Rei Kaguya was thinking this, Hanabi Hyuga, who was trapped inside the Water Prison, suddenly began flickering between light and shadow without warning.
Like an illusion that was about to disappear.
"What is going on!?"
Not only did Rei Kaguya's expression change because of this sudden turn of events, but Hanabi Hyuga herself was also startled by what was happening to her.
After arriving in this era for no reason, was she now going to be sent to some other era by another inexplicable force?
But after thinking about it, if she continued staying in this era, she might end up as the opponent's prisoner and have all the future intelligence in her mind dug out.
Under these circumstances, being sent to some other era did not seem all that terrible.
Still frightened, she looked at Rei Kaguya outside the Water Prison, whose brows were tightly furrowed.
Then, lively by nature, she blinked those bright Byakugan and mouthed to him through the water.
"This time, you failed to catch me, Kaguya clan big brother."
"…"
Rei Kaguya was very displeased, but he had no reason to refute her.
"But since you were only a little bit away from succeeding, I'll give you some advice as a reward."
"Within today, do not let Rin Nohara die… If you can do that, then your fate, and Kirigakure's future, may both change in a better direction."
"If we have the chance, see you thirty years later, big brother."
The flickering ended.
Hanabi Hyuga vanished without leaving a single trace inside the Water Prison Rei Kaguya had created.
It was as if, from the very beginning, she had been an illusion that did not exist in this era.