The second day came by and passed quite quickly. Turns out, only Byakuya was able to master Hamura's Meditation technique in less than a day just like him. The two girls only did so during the evening of the next day, which still was a result that surprised Hantaro-sensei. It wasn't uncommon for main branch members to take up to ten days to master it, and for the worst of the branch clan there were some that simply did not inherit enough affinity with nature chakra in order to master it at all. Even in such a great clan, there are some bad apples. It was inevitable.
Haru didn't learn anything genuinely useful that day either, as he was already aware of most of the information provided during the world history class, the lunar period of the clan aside. Whilst some bits were interesting, he still felt like he was losing his time and he knew he wasn't the only one feeling this way even though no one said anything. Only Eina seemed fascinated throughout, hardly surprisingly.
So in order to ease his boredom Haru kept a few leaves sticking on his skin in discreet locations, even though such a cover that wasn't worth much under the Byakugan. But Haru felt it was fine, in any case no one would the dojutsu activated for without a genuine reason. And in any case Haru was sure the teacher would approve of his initiative.
Unbeknownst to him, he was right. It took a mere second to Hantaro to notice the instant he stepped in the classroom, and whilst it wasn't a very usual method of chakra manipulation training the knowledgable teacher understood its purpose right away. In his opinion it was the kind of behaviour that must be encouraged and not punished so he said nothing.
The next day was much awaited by all four of them. Even though the life on the moon was quite dull, that didn't mean that it would please a bunch of four or five year-old brats to sit still listening to someone talking all day. Warriors were born to fight !
Hantaro brought the few of them to the academy's dojo, and for the first time in two days, Haru and the others met other students. They all looked at least two years or more older, and they were all immediately stared at in fascination by them.
Most of them had their eyes closed, as branch members. Still, it didn't prevent them from fighting in a very familiar way to Haru. The Gentle Fist Style of the Hyuga clan. Or at least something very close to it.
It didn't come as a surprise at all for the white haired transmigrator. According to his deduction, some branch renegades must have fled the moon to the planet at least two times in the distant past, possibly more. This was the most likely explanation as to why the Hyuga and the Kaguya clan existed. The event that marked the beginnings of the Kaguya clan was probably the earliest, as he was quite sure that in the cannon their bloodline was as thin as a hairstrand and their legacy knowledge of the Ôtsutsuki clan nonexistant at this point. Maybe the protagonists of this event were people who seeked to free the jailed alien princess and that's why they called their new clan this way ? Who knows.
On the other hand the Hyuga clan was something else. They held their blood and traditions dear, and as far as Haru was concerned they either did a pretty good job at it or their ancestors defection must have been somewhat recent.
In any case, the Gentle Fist Style came from here. He didn't fancy it a lot as a reader back when this whole verse was nothing more than a imaginary world built for entertainment, but watching it live was something else.
Graceful !
A true feast for the eyes. The Gentle Fist held much more potential than what a even a fabled genius Jounin Neji Hyuga showcased later in the manga. It wasn't just some run of the mill fancy but somewhat powerless style like many Naruto fans believed. It was a technique derived from the Eighty Gods Airstrike Jutsu of the celestial Ôtsutsuki clan. A technique capable of bullying Six Path level powerhouses around taylor-made for the Byakugan.
The Hyuga clan shinobi were simply too trashy to bring out the true potential of it !
Haru shivered at the thought of being related to these shitstains. Tens of generations of warring era warriors and shinobis have not proven themselves capable to aim for anything else than closing some useless tenketsus. How embarassing.
The Gentle First was actually meant to be used with nature transformations. Whilst the Hyuga rejected such innovative concepts because their close mindedness, aiming for some lousy internal wounds, the Ôtsutsuki palms packed as much power as Tsunade's fists. Under their strikes, boulders would explode, floor would shatter and buildings would collapse.
Whilst there were indeed a few taijutsu style specialists who do achieve the same results, none do so sixteen, thirty-two, sixty four times or more in a few seconds ! When cadence was backed up by power, the Gentle Fist alone could bring a Jounin to Kage level.
The Hyuga have been sitting on a gold mine for hundreds of years and they were never aware of it !
Shaking his head, he was brought back from his thoughts by Hantaro.
"The Gentle Fist is the core taishu art of our Ōtsutsuki clan, because most of our most powerful taishu arts and jutsus are based off from it. In practice however, most warriors of the main family prefer the Camellia Dance to it because the later is simply deadlier, less complex, and more forgiving due to the Shikotsumyaku." He explained. "But every member of the clan ought to know the Gentle Fist style, even if one has the Shikotsumyaku. Its potential is not any less than the Camellia Dance, and in any case you won't be training taishu with your Kekkei Genkai anytime soon so you don't have much of a choice anyway."
"Get ready, I'll demonstrate the first stances to you first."
The day passed slowly. Unsurprisingly, Byakuya was especially focused to the Gentle Fist lesson. As he didn't have the Shikotsumyaku, it didn't come as much of a surprise to anybody. Haru himself recognised the necessity of being proficient in the art. Whilst no one had told them anything about it yet, Haru was quite sure they were evalued on the potential and resolve they displayed at the academy. There was no free lunch in this world, and if he ever wanted any advanced Jutsu or a particular advice, if he wasn't deemed worthy of it by the clan because he had slacked off too much in the subjects that he didn't care about earlier then he could very well be flatly rejected.
Haru was not very afraid of being too good for his own good, as transmigrators often were in other stories. He was afraid of falling behind, and not being good enough to get a hold of his fate. Whilst he has not yet seen any major sign of it, he knew a civil war that would decimate almost the entire clan was on the horizon. If he didn't want to be powerless by then in this place filled with Kage level people then to hell with going under the radar.
Before heading back home later that day, he decided to search for a quiet and isolated training ground so he could complete his training checklist for today. As he entered what seemed to be a suitable empty place on the outskirts of the village, he noticed there was actually someone here already.
It was a white haired youth, that looked like he was around ten or eleven of age. Tree trunks shattered one after another as the Eight Trigrams palm jutsu raged in fury. "Twenty-two ! Twenty-eight ! Thirty-six ! ... Forty-eight ! Fifty-four !... Aaaaah !!"
Out of breath and panting, the youth fell to the ground. Haru was a bit taken aback, because he knew who he was. Slowly, he made his way closer toward the figure recuperating on the ground.
"Who's there ?!"
Even though he could not see as he didn't have eyes like every other branch members, he was a fine sensor and even if it was his purpose in the first place, there was no way Haru could have sneaked upon him.
Haru didn't answer but simply stared at him.
He didn't have any good feeling about Toneri. That guy was basically a villain in the making, and one of the major protagonists of the bullshit that was about to come.
And let's be honest, is there a man out there that would see in a good light a dude like him that tries to steal other people's wives ?
He was just a living scum of the branch clan with trashy blood.
Whilst Haru was scrutinising him quietly, Toneri recomposed himself and after getting back up in order to deal with this annoying kid that disturbed his training he realised that he was most likely talking to a main family member.
"My apologies for my rude behaviour, sir !" he quickly said, somewhat restless.
In many ways, the social mores of this clan were sometimes quite ridiculous. Haru wasn't some prince or whatever. If anything, he was just a tiny bit less human and more alien than him. Yet for that sole reason, even though it wasn't as exagerated as the caged bird seal, Haru had the power to order him around and was owed elder grade respects. Adding to that their Byakugan deprivation, and even though he despised the disgusting NTR antagonist in front of him, he could understand the hatred that was building up within the hearts of the branch people.
It was funny that even though they had the Byakugan, the main family members seemed blind to it. Or maybe they were just too disdainful of them, believing that in any case with their superior blood and jutsus, if they had any funny ideas it would be like hitting a rock with an egg.
"It's fine." replied Haru nonchalently. "Do you mind if I find myself a corner in this place to practice ?"
"No, of course not." Toneri was a bit surprised by his politeness. Thinking that the four year-old seemed easy-going he asked. "Are you one of the academy freshman from the A class ?"
In the academy, classes were divided by both generations - a three year period - and family group. The A class was the main family students, and B to D classes were the branch. The standard curriculum spanned nine years in total, so three consecutive generation cycles, and most students graduated between the age of twelve and fourteen. By then, most had the level of a jounin, and the best were around Elite Jounin level. Although it was rare, sometimes they were monsters in the A class that could even rival some Kage grade shinobis but it wasn't the norm.
As Shirogakure wasn't like other shinobi villages and didn't require its armed forces to have a shinobi career, once one graduated they were pretty much free from duty unless they were asked to do a mission. In any case it was rare, and most have never even done one.
"Yes." replied Haru casually, his interesting in the man waning. He then strolled toward a spot that he thought was good enough, took out a bunch of leaves before sticking them all over his body and began practicing the Gentle Fist stances.
Meanwhile the eleven year-old Toneri stared at him quietly, understanding that the boy wasn't interested in chatting any longer. He was quite impressed by his ambitious and masterful training exercice. Although both exercices were nothing out of the ordinary, doing them together wasn't something he would have even tried to do at his age.
The A-class kid were really something else... He sighed, thinking of his own A-class generation kids. One one them, Hatorama, was younger than him yet graduated early last month when he himself still has a little less than three more years to go.
Heavens are unfair...