Neck straight, crown lifted, shoulders relaxed, elbows dropped, chest expanded, abdomen solid, waist upright, hips relaxed, hips contracted, knees closed, ten toes gripping the ground.
Seven Night's Gentle Fist technique didn't follow the traditional Hyuga sequence.
Instead, he incorporated some of the key movements of the Leaf's Steel Fist style into the Gentle Fist.
Steel Fist style relies primarily on muscle and bone strength, while Gentle Fist focuses on chakra.
As Seven Night's body swayed and twisted, he sought the point of coordinated explosion between chakra and physical strength.
Pushing, supporting, guiding, leading, shifting, blocking; intercepting, locking, grasping, taking, dodging...
But since he was just starting to explore, his movements looked awkward.
After practicing for a while, Seven Night stopped.
He reflected on himself.
“No, this forced imitation is too deliberate and rigid…”
“It feels less natural than the standalone Gentle Fist combined with Body Flicker, which is smooth and effortless, a continuous flow…”
He punched again.
This time, he moved like treading through mud, advancing like riding a sedan chair, his foot moving with a scraping motion.
In his perception, an intangible realm of the Eight Trigrams glowed and unfolded.
This was a spiritual aura perception, invisible to the naked eye.
He stood firmly in the center, his body moving with his steps, his palms changing with his body, moving like a dragon, turning like a monkey, shifting like an eagle, fierce as a tiger.
His palms formed into the shape of blades, sharp strength spraying out like raindrops.
“Hiss hiss hiss…”
The sound of air being drawn in was constant, accompanied by a gentle hum.
Seven Night's fingers and palms were like a gust of wind, striking out afterimages.
Simultaneously, he deployed Body Flicker, connecting top and bottom, unifying inside and outside, intentions guiding his body, transformations effortless and free, moving in and out at will.
By the time he finished the Eight Trigrams Sixteen Palms, only a few seconds had passed.
The ground was left with faint grooves, carved out by the force of his strikes, vaguely resembling an Eight Trigrams diagram.
“Whew~~”
Seven Night gently exhaled.
Chakra surged through his body, strength flowing to his extremities, every limb and bone connected, Seven Night felt a sense of comfort and exhilaration.
Completely different from the awkwardness and strangeness he felt before.
“Comfortable!~~”
…………
Hyuga Zong Yan was right, the Body Flicker he submitted to the clan wasn't the same as the one he actually used.
It wasn't a problem with the jutsu.
But this Body Flicker, Seven Night created it specifically to complement the Gentle Fist.
In his previous life, even without supernatural powers, his martial arts theory was very rich, reaching almost a philosophical level.
External focus on hands, eyes, body, form, and steps, internal cultivation of mind, spirit, intent, qi, and strength.
This was the theory of martial arts developed over millennia in his previous life. As a martial arts instructor in his past life, Seven Night had read countless martial arts manuals, and the martial arts of different schools and styles all adhered to this principle.
When learning Gentle Fist, he discovered that it lacked a corresponding footwork technique.
In battle, they would activate Byakugan, teleport, then unleash a series of attacks on the pressure points.
Therefore, Seven Night utilized the system to deduce for a long time before he obtained this high-speed movement technique that perfectly matched the Eight Trigrams Sixteen Palms.
As for the one he submitted to the clan, it was naturally a simplified version.
Feeling the distinct difference between the two practices, Seven Night pondered.
“My ambitions are still too high…”
“A self-proclaimed time traveler with the aid of a system…”
“Wanting too much, from the very beginning I'm trying to achieve perfection, to be the best, heh heh…”
He chuckled self-deprecatingly.
At this moment, the principles of “great achievement is like deficiency” and “great fullness is like emptiness” suddenly flashed through Seven Night's mind.
“The martial arts theory of my previous life was profound, but back then, I only stayed at the literal level…”
“Now this is a world with supernatural powers like chakra…”
“Gentle Fist and Steel Fist both established their reputation in the Warring States period decades ago…”
“I haven't even reached a point of mastery in the Gentle Fist, yet I'm thinking about combining strength and softness, too confident, to put it bluntly, I'm a bit arrogant…”
After facing his inner self, Seven Night felt a slight tremor in his spirit.
The most difficult thing to settle is one's heart, sometimes it's chaotic, sometimes it's wild, concentration isn't easy.
And, when one can focus, they can become strong.
…………
Spring arrived, flowers bloomed, people met again, the Ninja Academy welcomed new recruits once more.
Seven Night and the others were now gloriously rid of their freshman status, having grown into second-year “veterans”.
Speaking of which, Seven Night hadn't seen the Third Hokage come and preach about the “Will of Fire” to the students. Did the current Third Hokage not realize that brainwashing should start from childhood?
Seven Night tilted his head slightly.
Well, the sun was bright and the breeze was pleasant.
A strand of golden hair entered his field of vision.
“Seven Night, good morning!”
It was the same enthusiastic greeting as always.
Minato naturally sat down next to Seven Night, his arm bumping against him.
“Seven Night, let's have another sparring session after school today…”
“I've been practicing hard during the break…”
Seven Night said softly, “I can tell.”
Through his Byakugan, he saw that Minato's chakra reserves had increased significantly compared to before the break.
And Minato's muscle condition, his entire spirit had improved greatly.
Minato rubbed his head with a grin, looking around to see if anyone was watching.
He leaned in even closer, whispering mysteriously:
“Sensei Watanabe even taught me a jutsu.”
“Oh?”
Seven Night's expression changed slightly.
He didn't feel resentful about Watanabe's preferential treatment.
But, if other students found out, they might have their own thoughts.
Minato being able to learn a jutsu ahead of time showed that Watanabe valued his talent.
To be honest, for Seven Night, the things he could learn in class were minimal, mostly just experiential knowledge.
The school library and Hyuga Zong Yan's guidance were far richer than the classroom.
In Seven Night's view, ninja clan children attending school was more of a formality, showing a sense of obedience, with more symbolic meaning.
As far as he knew, there were many suitable age children in the Hyuga clan who didn't attend the Ninja Academy, they were all taught by their family elders.
“What kind of jutsu is it?” Seven Night asked.
“Heh heh…”
Minato blinked his eyes, “Secret~!”