Naruto: The Ninja World's Life Buyer

Chapter 178 The Truth of Gentle Fist: Locking Up the Tree of Greed

Night falls.

The Hyuga clan's territory, the branch family compound.

This place is much more crowded and noisier than the main family's mansion.

Hyuga Masaru sat in his room.

His room was very simple, with only a table covered with scrolls, in addition to the necessary furniture.

He borrowed it from the clan's library.

He's researching something. It's about another form of the Byakugan, and the legend of Hamura.

"Knock knock".

A soft knock on the door.

"Come in."

The door opened. A young ninja with a resolute face walked in.

Shinsuke Hyuga. He was one of the few elite members of the branch family to cross the threshold of becoming a Jonin.

"Lord Kashin".

Shinsuke bowed respectfully, his eyes filled with admiration.

Since Mu Xiangsheng defeated Tetsuya with a single palm strike during the assessment and made numerous outstanding contributions on the front lines, he has become the spiritual leader of the younger generation of the Fenhou.

Everyone knows that this former "useless person" now possesses power even more terrifying than the main family.

"What is it, Shinsuke?" Hyuga Masaru put down the scroll.

"The main family—someone has arrived."

Shinsuke suppressed his anger.

"They are Lord Hyuga Hiashi's confidants. They said that tomorrow is the family's ancestral rites."

"According to the rules, all Jonin from the branch families must go to the main family's residence to serve as guards."

Guards.

It was basically just standing guard. Standing in the main family's courtyard, watching them enjoy the banquet and being inspected by them.

This is a rule that the Hyuga clan has followed for hundreds of years. It is also a ceremony to confirm the master-servant relationship.

"I see."

Hyuga Katsu said calmly.

"I will go."

"Lord Katsu!"

Shinsuke was somewhat unwilling.

"Your current strength is clearly superior to theirs! Why do you still suffer this humiliation?"

"How long must we endure this?"

Hyuga Katsu raised his head. His pure Byakugan eyes appeared exceptionally deep in the candlelight.

"Shinsuke."

"exist."

"Patience is not cowardice."

Hyuga Katsu looked at the brightly lit main family mansion in the distance.

"We are not yet able to break free of the cage."

"Because the key to the cage is not in our hands."

He touched his forehead. Although the curse mark there was no longer effective against him, it remained a deadly shackle on the heads of the other branch families.

"but----"

Hyuga Masaru tightened his fingers slightly, and the bones at his fingertips made a crisp sound.

"I will find the key."

"Tell everyone to be on your toes tomorrow. We're going to give the main family a proper patronage."

2

Shinsuke watched Hinata Masaru's retreating figure.

He felt a chill. But that chill made his blood boil.

"yes!"

the next day.

The Hyuga main family mansion.

The courtyard was filled with banquet tables. The elders and elites of the main family raised their glasses and chatted merrily.

Under the corridor in the courtyard, rows of branch family ninjas stood.

They were expressionless, like statues.

Hiashi Hyuga sat in the main seat.

His gaze swept across the corridor. Finally, it settled on one person.

Hyuga Katsumi.

He stood at the very front of the family division procession. He was tall and imposing, with a composed demeanor.

He didn't lower his head like the others.

He looked straight ahead.

Those eyes seemed to pierce through the noisy banquet, through Hiashi's body, and see something far deeper.

Hiashi felt a little uneasy.

"That look in his eyes—"

Hiashi put down his wine glass.

That was the gaze of a strong person. Neither humble nor arrogant, even carrying a hint of—pity?

Is he pitying the main family?

"snort."

An elder standing nearby snorted coldly.

"That kid who split up the family is getting more and more unruly."

"Chieftain, shouldn't we give them a warning?"

"For example—activate the curse seal to let him know who the master is?"

Japan remained silent.

He looked at Hyuga Katsumi.

His intuition told him that if he activated the cursed seal now, the consequences could be severe.

It's not that I'm worried about killing him. It's that I'm worried—what will happen if I can't kill him?

An inexplicable fear gripped Rizu.

"Today is a festival."

Hiashi said calmly.

"Avoid bloodshed. Let it go."

The elders were somewhat dissatisfied, but they dared not disobey the clan leader.

The banquet continued.

But the atmosphere became somewhat subtle. The branch family ninjas, though still standing, had a changed aura.

They watched Hyuga Masaru's retreating figure. That broad, rock-solid back.

It was as if, as long as that person stood there, they had a backbone.

A silent understanding spread throughout the division of the family.

That was the seed of rebellion.

That night.

Bellflower Pavilion.

Hyuga Katsu sat in front of Sousuke.

"Mr. Sosuke, I've found it."

-

"What?"

Hyuga Katsumi took out a rubbing of a piece of paper.

He used his X-ray vision to secretly observe the stone tablet in the clan's secret chamber while on guard duty at the clan's residence, and made rubbings of the text.

"I found this on the back of a stone tablet in the clan's secret chamber. If my eyes hadn't mutated to the point where I could see through materials to the deeper layers, I wouldn't have been able to find it either."

Sosuke took the rubbing of the paper. The paper was covered in ancient characters, twisted like tadpoles, exuding a sense of antiquity.

"What does it say on it?"

"The truth about our ancestor Hamura and Gentle Fist."

Hyuga Masaru's voice was very low.

"Mr. Sosuke, your guess is correct."

"Gentle Fist was never created for killing."

The inscription on the stone tablet reads: "[Softness is about gathering; strength is about sealing.]"

"[It is easy to draw the power of heaven and earth into the body; it is difficult to preserve the spirit of one's true self.]"

"[Therefore, the Soft Fist was created, using the meridians as a cage to lock—that greedy tree.]"

Sosuke's pupils contracted sharply.

The greedy tree.

The sacred tree.

This statement confirms his conjecture.

The essence of Soft Fist is a set of techniques for cultivating the mind.

Hamura wanted to establish a system of order within his body to prevent himself from being consumed by the instincts of the Divine Tree.

"Mr. Sousuke, there's something strange. Since Gentle Fist is meant to suppress the will of the Divine Tree, why would the threat of the 'Tree' exist in our bloodline, since we, the Hyuga clan, don't have Wood Release?" Hyuga Masa asked.

That's a very good question.

The Divine Tree is the Ten-Tails, and the Ten-Tails' Jinchūriki is the Sage of Six Paths, also known as Hagoromo Otsutsuki!

Hamura is not the Ten-Tails' Jinchūriki, so why would he be worried about being corrupted by the God Tree?

However, based on this information alone, we cannot deduce the answer.

"Victory, are there any other records?"

"It's gone. The back of the stone tablet was damaged, as if someone deliberately erased crucial information."

Sosuke was not surprised.

"normal."

"A thousand years is too long. Long enough for the truth to become a myth, and for a myth to become a bedtime story."

"Moreover, those who knew about such secrets involving ancestors would definitely have deliberately destroyed them."

"Why?" Hinata Masaru asked, puzzled.

"Because of fear."

"Sheng, think about it."

"If the descendants of the Hyuga clan knew that the Gentle Fist they practiced so diligently was actually more of a method of self-cultivation—"

"What will they think?"

"Faith will crumble. Traditions will be severed, and Gentle Fist will be abandoned."

"Therefore, the ancestors of the Hyuga clan chose to forget. They buried the truth in order to follow Hamura's ancestral teachings and pass on Gentle Fist."

"As long as future generations obediently practice their martial arts, they can suppress the erosion of the Divine Tree's will. As for why the Hyuga clan was eroded by the Divine Tree's will—there's no need to know."

Hyuga Katsumi remained silent.

He looked at his hands. Besides the power of the Corpse Bone Pulse and the Thousand Hands, could there be something else within his body that could attract the erosion of the Divine Tree's will?

Don't overthink it.

Sosuke patted him on the shoulder.

"The truth may be harsh, but at least we've found the key. As long as you keep practicing Gentle Fist, you'll be safe."

"As for the deeper history—since the Hyuga clan has no records of it, we can look for it elsewhere when we have the chance."

0

Hyuga Masaru left. He carried this heavy secret with him and returned to the Hyuga clan.