The Forest of Death.
Beneath the cliffs of a cascading waterfall.
The evening light spilled through the trees like overturned honey, the canopy filtering the last scattered flecks of gold. Sparrows flitted among the branches, their chirping a feeble attempt to dispel the creeping chill of the mist.
A shadow clone standing atop the cliff vanished, its chakra exhausted.
Gritting her teeth against fatigue, Hikari shifted into the Eight Trigrams stance, her hands dancing like butterflies.
At intervals, she unleashed what appeared to be a deceptively light Gentle Fist strike.
Deep-blue chakra trailed in elegant arcs through the air, blending with her fluid movements—less like a combat technique and more like a mesmerizing, deadly dance.
Had Neji been present, he would have been stunned.
What Hikari was executing wasn't the Gentle Fist at all—but an unknown taijutsu style that incorporated its chakra principles. Every strike fused chakra and physical prowess seamlessly.
Unconsciously, Hikari had already mastered the fundamentals of the Gentle Fist.
But instead of progressing to the Sixty-Four Palms, she merged its principles with the Shiraha-ryū techniques—imbuing each motion with the elegance and lethality of the Kaguya clan's dance.
A flick of her wrist.
Her glowing palm pressed lightly against the trunk of a tree.
—Hummm!
A flash of light.
Hikari paused for half a second before leaping aside.
—Crack!
From within the banyan tree came the sound of something splintering apart.
"Chirp-chirp-CHIRP!"
The sparrows nesting in the branches shrieked in terror as the canopy shook violently, sending them scattering into the sky.
—Groan… CRASH!
The massive banyan tree slid downward from the point of impact, collapsing under its own weight.
—BOOM!
The falling trunk smashed into the ground where Hikari had stood moments before, kicking up a storm of dust.
—Whoosh!
A sudden gust of wind erupted, swirling around her and scattering both the dust and the sparrows that had been preparing to unleash their… less-than-dignified counterattack.
Hikari stepped through the settling debris, her Byakugan scanning the severed stump—inspecting the results of her training.
What she saw:
The point of impact was shattered, the wood pulverized by sheer force.
But only the first third of the trunk had been crushed—the remaining two-thirds had been cleanly severed, the cut so smooth it looked polished.
A grin spread across Hikari's face.
This was exactly what she had envisioned for her "Sun-Chasing Style."
Born from the Shiraha-ryū's balance of hard and soft, this technique combined:
The brute force of strong fist, The precision of gentle fist, And wind-natured chakra driven directly into the enemy's body.
Like hammering a nail:
Strong fist was the hammer. Gentle fist was the nail. And the wind chakra? Pure devastation.
Hikari didn't care about pressure points—she knew that razor-sharp wind pressure, forced through the body's meridians, could shred muscles, veins, and even bone.
Of course, such power came with drawbacks.
Nothing was perfect.
The prerequisites for mastering the Sun-Chasing Style were brutal:
Byakugan-level chakra control, Wind-nature transformation mastery, And Shiraha-ryū's physical dominance.
In the entire shinobi world, only two beings could meet these conditions:
Hikari herself, And Kaguya Ōtsutsuki (still sealed away).
But even after fulfilling the prerequisites, the training itself was monstrously difficult.
A single, seemingly casual strike required multitasking on three or even four levels—demanding extreme stamina, mental focus, ocular prowess, and chakra control.
That "one perfect strike" she'd just landed?
The result of minutes of buildup—and countless failed attempts.
Luck had played a big part.
And in real combat? No enemy would stand still like a tree, waiting for her to charge up.
The Sun-Chasing Style was still in its infancy. Only through relentless refinement would it mature into a true taijutsu流派 (ryūha, "school").
Hikari still had a long way to go.
But once perfected?
It would surpass even the Lightning Release Chakra Mode of Kumogakure—perhaps even the pinnacle of nin-taijutsu.
And this technique's name?
"Sun-Chasing Style: Severing the Void – First Form."
A fitting title for a move that fused everything she had.
"The hardest part is just beginning."
With the foundation of her nin-taijutsu now laid, Hikari's mood was euphoric.
The thrill of growth dulled the exhaustion of three straight days of training.
(Why three days? Her water and wind clones had dispersed—meaning she was now feeling all that accumulated fatigue at once.)
Physically, her Shiraha-ryū-enhanced body could handle more.
But her chakra reserves were the bottleneck.
After learning the Eight Gates and using the Gate of Life to harness her body's natural energy, her base chakra had reached mid-tier jōnin level.
Splitting into two clones—each training chakra-intensive wind and water techniques—pushed her to her limit.
Any further, and she'd have to force open the Gate of Injury, trading lifespan for chakra.
"Trading life for power…"
With no immediate threats and her chakra still growing, she saw no reason to take such drastic measures.
As fatigue gnawed at her, her Byakugan's power flared.
"Physical Domination."
Her nervous system's pain signals were blocked at the brain.
Only the high of progress remained.
She wasn't the type to suffer needlessly.
Thanks to her bloodline, she could revel in the rewards of training without enduring its agony.
"The more I train… the more Iwantto train."
A dangerous thought crossed her mind:
"Wait… is this how Guy-sensei got addicted?!"
The Eight Gates' Second Gate (Gate of Rest) also nullified fatigue.
Suddenly, Might Guy's habit of random push-ups and frog jumps all over Konoha made too much sense.
"Oh no… am I turning into him?!"
A shudder ran down her spine.
She quickly grabbed her discarded cloak, throwing it over her shoulders.
The last thing she wanted was to end up in a green spandex jumpsuit, frog-hopping through the village beside him.
If that ever happened, Kaguya Ōtsutsuki wouldn't be the only one trying to end the world.
"Maybe I should take a break tomorrow…"
Just as she considered it—
"Hikari!"
Neji's voice rang out.
She looked up to see him sprinting through the trees, Byakugan active, two scrolls in hand.
In seconds, he landed before her.
"Here! TheGentle Fist: RotationandEight Trigrams Air Palm!"
His face was alight with pride as he thrust the scrolls into her hands.
"Already?!"
Hikari grinned, immediately unfurling them.
Neji's efficiency put Hinata's to shame.
"Study theAir Palmlater. For now, I'll help you practice theGentle Fist'spressure-point strikes."
"Sure."
She nodded absently, already absorbed in the scrolls' secrets.
As for that "break" she'd planned?
Gone—vanished into the wind.
(＾▽＾)