It's not hard to see that Natsuhiko's so-called Bubble Gentle Fist is essentially a new type of taijutsu he developed by combining the bubble-like nature transformation he accidentally discovered earlier with the traditional Gentle Fist style.
Initially, Natsuhiko's research into taijutsu had focused on Hard Fist, the opposite of Gentle Fist.
After all, with Might Duy, a master of the Hard Fist style, by his side and the secret scroll of the Eight Gates technique in his possession, it seemed only natural for him to follow the path of many other predecessors who had crossed over, learning Hard Fist and even the Eight Gates technique.
However, Gentle Fist is a secret technique exclusive to the Hyuga clan, and even branch family members cannot master it fully. If Natsuhiko wanted to learn it, he would have to be entirely self-taught.
From every perspective, learning Gentle Fist seemed like a challenging path with little reward.
Yet, after careful consideration and repeated sparring sessions with Might Duy, Natsuhiko ultimately decided to make Gentle Fist the foundation of his taijutsu.
The reason is simple: Gentle Fist suits his personality better than Hard Fist does.
While this may sound trivial, there is actually a strong logic behind it.
Chakra, the source of a ninja's power, is a mixture of spiritual and physical energy.
In this world, besides bloodline inheritance, a person's personality, beliefs, and even emotions can genuinely affect their chakra quality and the power of their techniques.
The most typical example is, of course, the Uchiha clan, whose power is practically tied to the severity of their mental issues… LMFAOOOO
This means that regardless of how good a technique is, if it doesn't match the practitioner's nature, it's difficult to unleash its true potential even after learning it.
The straightforward and forceful approach of Hard Fist, where a meticulously trained body crushes the enemy, is most compatible with hot-blooded fools like the father-son duo, Might Duy and Might Guy.
That's why they could fully master the Eight Gates Formation, whereas Kakashi, renowned as a genius, struggled even to open the first gate.
Clearly, Natsuhiko, who has lived two lives and always keeps a backup plan, has a temperament that clashes entirely with a fighting style that requires risking one's life.
This is why, despite having the Eight Gates' secret scroll for so long, he couldn't even open the first gate under normal circumstances.
If he hadn't chosen to focus on taijutsu, it wouldn't have been a big problem. But since his goal is to become a flawless hexagonal warrior, he decided to train in a style that suited him better: Gentle Fist.
The defensive nature of Gentle Fist perfectly aligns with Natsuhiko's cautious personality, prioritizing safety and avoiding direct confrontations.
Moreover, he overcame the primary obstacle of Gentle Fist—the ability to control chakra points, which typically requires the Byakugan—through his own inventions.
Apart from the fact that he had no established references and had to develop it from scratch, there weren't any major drawbacks to Gentle Fist.
However, Natsuhiko's version of Gentle Fist is significantly different from the Hyuga clan's.
Techniques like the Eight Trigrams Palms Rotation involve releasing a large amount of chakra in an instant to neutralize the enemy's attack, achieving a defensive effect.
In the original work, Neji used this method multiple times during his battle with Naruto in the Chunin Exams, even holding his own against Naruto's Nine-Tails-enhanced attacks.
This approach, however, requires a substantial amount of chakra and strong chakra pathways to execute.
Although the Hyuga clan may have faded into obscurity in the later stages of the original series, they remain the descendants of Otsutsuki Kaguya, possessing top-tier physical and chakra attributes.
Thus, they can continuously release chakra from their bodies as if it costs nothing, for defense or to target chakra points.
In contrast, Natsuhiko, who hasn't yet completed training in the Yin Seal, cannot match these overpowered individuals in terms of chakra reserves.
While he can perform similar techniques, his tendency to be frugal with chakra prevents him from freely wasting it, leading him to develop a compromise.
Initially, he planned to use flowing water to simulate the flow of external chakra since the volume of water created by Water Release is much greater than pure chakra.
However, his Water Release unexpectedly evolved into bubble-like nature transformation thanks to Infant Numbe 3, forcing him to adapt and create his own Bubble Gentle Fist.
Surprisingly, the unique properties of bubbles allowed his Gentle Fist to diverge entirely from previous approaches.
Yes, the special effect he leveraged was lubrication.
He could create a dense layer of bubbles on his body with minimal chakra, making his body slippery by utilizing fluid lubrication principles.
Under the influence of universal chakra, the bubbles Natsuhiko created were extremely tough and had incredibly low friction.
These tiny bubbles, like the ball bearings of a rolling element, could effortlessly deflect enemy attacks.
In other words, Natsuhiko used the Bubble Fruit to achieve the effects of the Slip-Slip Fruit.
Thus, although it was still a form of Gentle Fist, there was a fundamental difference.
This was why Kakuzu had felt that Natsuhiko's Gentle Fist seemed somewhat familiar yet distinctly different.
Now that Kakuzu had grasped the secret of the bubbles, with his vast combat experience, he would likely soon find a way to counter it.
Knowing this, Natsuhiko realized he couldn't afford to keep stalling as he had before; he needed to show his true skills to continue fighting against Kakuzu.
Fortunately, this was a good opportunity to test out some of his abilities in a real battle.
Just after explaining his power to Kakuzu, Natsuhiko saw that his opponent wasn't making any immediate moves, so he raised his foam-covered right hand and thrust it forward.
A large mass of white bubbles shot from his palm, flying toward Kakuzu.
Bubble Palm Strike!
Kakuzu, still surprised by Natsuhiko's innovative use of bubbles to create a new form of Gentle Fist, quickly snapped back to reality upon seeing the large mass of bubbles coming at him.
"Is this imitating the Hyuga clan's Air Palm? But it doesn't seem as good as the original…"
Kakuzu thought to himself as he swiftly dodged to the side, easily evading the path of the bubbles.
The Hyuga clan's Air Palm is a technique that attacks enemies from a distance by compressing and releasing air through a palm strike.
Its speed and subtlety make it highly effective in actual combat.
However, Natsuhiko's imitation, the Bubble Palm Strike, seemed to lack the original's advantages, leaving Kakuzu slightly disappointed.
Just as he had this thought, the white bubble mass exploded with a loud "pop," scattering foam in all directions!
"This is…"
Kakuzu's experience allowed him to instantly realize that Natsuhiko had used the same technique as the Air Palm, compressing a large number of bubbles with a chakra membrane.
However, unlike the Air Palm, his technique could also detonate mid-flight!
Unfortunately, being so close to the explosion, Kakuzu couldn't react in time despite his brain registering the danger.
In an instant, the entire area was covered in a thick layer of foam, even obscuring Kakuzu's vision.
The sting from the foam entering his eyes momentarily left him dazed.
He hadn't expected such a seemingly childish technique to actually trick a veteran fighter like himself.
But there was no time for further reflection, as a sudden rush of wind sounded from directly in front of him.
For a moment, Kakuzu saw an image of Natsuhiko lunging at him with a palm strike.
Although temporarily blinded, even Tsunade could fight with her eyes closed, and Kakuzu, who had filled all his weaknesses during his long career as a ninja, was well-versed in blind fighting techniques, using his hearing to detect his surroundings.
It seemed that Natsuhiko wanted to take advantage of the success of his previous move to launch an attack while Kakuzu couldn't see.
Unfortunately, Natsuhiko still underestimated him.
Earth Release: Earth Spear!
With a slight twitch of his ears, Kakuzu pinpointed the source of the sound and launched a punch with his hardened right hand.
It was like Armament Haki clashing against the Slip-Slip Fruit; Kakuzu's fist collided directly with Natsuhiko's palm strike...
(End of Chapter)