Chapter – 24 A Battle between Hyuga Siblings?

Once the matches between the trainees of the third year and the fourth year were concluded, it was time for the matches between the trainees of the fifth year and the sixth year. In fact, for these matches, the audience is quite excited… one of the reasons is that these two years are the trainees of the senior most year, which means their skills should be on a completely different level, and the other reason is the presence of the cold beauty in the fifth year.

Other than Uchiha Tatsumi of the second year, the cold beauty of the fifth year has the most fans in the entire ninja academy, what’s more, it’s going to be a battle between siblings… the cold beauty of the fifth year fighting the stern elder brother from the sixth year, the fight is bound to attract a lot of drama and attention.

“Tsukiko, if you lose this battle… then stop this farce and go home immediately,” spoke Hiashi. Although his words were cold and stern, there was a trace of worry in his tone.

“Hiashi-sama, please take care of me,” answered the girl in a somewhat cold and monotone voice. With long dark blue hair and characteristic featureless pure white eyes, Tsukiko’s appearance is very similar to that of Hyuga Hinata, however, compared to Hinata who is very meek and timid, Tsukiko’s temperament is somewhat cold and indifferent and is commonly referred to as the Iceberg beauty of the Ninja Academy that would never melt.

Minato was a little puzzled upon hearing their manner of referring to each other, “Aren’t they siblings, why is Hyuga Tsukiko’s manner of speaking so formal, whil–!”

Tatsumi immediately covered Minato’s mouth and stopped him from finishing, “Shh!”

Minato was more puzzled, “What’s wrong?”

Tatsumi whispered, “Don’t ever mention this in front of Hyuga Clansmen, they might get offended.”

“Offended over such a thing, why?” Minato was curious, but neither Mikoto nor Nawaki knew how to explain such a thing.

Different from Minato who is only a civilian, Tatsumi, Mikoto, and Nawaki are from prominent clans, therefore, they are aware of such things.

After a bit of hesitation, Tatsumi explained, “It’s because of the class system within the Hyuga Clan, there is an internal division among them, the main family that truly rules the Clan, while the branch family that protects the clan. From their manner of speaking, it is very likely that Hyuga Hiashi is a member of the main family, while Hyuga Tsukiko is a member of the branch family…”

Minato blinked in surprise, “Such a thing exists within the Hyuga Clan?”

Tatsumi nodded, “Well, they have their reasons, and it is a millennium-old tradition… It best not to talk about these things in front of others, especially not in front of the Hyugas because they can get offended…” then looked at Tsukiko in the arena, for some reason she did not have the Caged Bird Mark on her forehead despite being a member of the branch family (probably) which means that her situation within the Clan is somewhat complicated.

While Tatsumi crushed all his opponents with mysterious Genjutsu and chic appearance, then Tsukiko crushed her opponents with her graceful Gentle Fist and untouchable frost heart, so far, she has firmly occupied the topmost position in her year, and there is no subject she is not good at. Despite being only nine years old, Tsukiko is already extremely proficient in using the Byakugan, and coupled with her graceful Gentle Fist Taijutsu skills, most of the trainees stand no chance against her.

Ever since she had enrolled in the Ninja Academy, she had been an object of everyone’s admiration, and it was not just boys who fawned over her, even some girls fawned over her. Countless people, including both boys and girls, have confessed to her time and time again only to be coldly rejected by her. So far, no one has been able to melt her frost heart, and there are even rumors that she is Homosexual or maybe Asexual.

Regardless of the rumors, Hyuga Tsukiko has firmly occupied the top position in the secret list of ‘Most Desirable Girls/Want to be his boyfriend,’ followed closely by Uchiha Mikoto. Indeed, in the list, Hyuga Tsukiko has even beaten Mikoto, but there are multiple reasons for that, first is that many trainees recognize that they don’t stand a chance with Mikoto since she is always with Tatsumi which is not the case with Tsukiko, secondly, Mikoto is only a second-year trainee at the moment while Tsukiko is a fifth year, so there’s bound to be some differences as she has spent more time in the academy in comparison to Mikoto.

While Tatsumi was pondering over these important and unimportant things, Tsukiko bowed to Hiashi, and then took her stance, at the same time, she activated her Byakugan as the veins around her eyes bulged.

“This is it… that’s the Byakugan!”

“Tsukiko-sama!”

“Yes, defeat Hiashi!”

In contrast to Tsukiko, there’s not much support for poor Hiashi, even Hizashi is rooting for Tsukiko rather than Hiashi. In fact, if it weren’t for the fact that Hiashi is also extremely strong, half of the trainees watching the fight would have already rushed to the arena to gang up on Hiashi, they couldn’t wait to beat him to a pulp.

But Hiashi did not care about these people, and seeing that a fight with Tsukiko was inevitable, he sighed lightly, and activated his Byakugan. Just like Tsukiko’s case, the veins around his eyes bulged.

‘A Hyuga vs Hyuga, huh? Somehow, this reminds me of the Chunin exam from the canon…’ thought Tatsumi.

As one of the three great Dōjutsu, Byakugan is capable of seeing the complete Chakra Pathway System as well as all the Tenketsu in a person’s body, additionally, it can also see through opaque objects, has a nearly three-sixty-degree vision and see over long distances, and combined with the Gentle Fist Taijutsu of the Hyuga Clan, it can be used for some very dangerous attacks that can immediately kill if not immobile enemies with ease.

On top of being born with the Byakugan, the Hyuga Clansmen have another very big advantage, and that’s their ability to release Chakra from all their Tenketsu. No one is capable of such a feat, which is why in terms of Taijutsu, the Hyuga Clansmen are somewhat unbeatable.

However, what always confuses Tatsumi is that compared to the kind of power Ōtsutsuki Kaguya and Ōtsutsuki Hamura displayed, the Hyuga Clansmen are somewhat lame, and their denial to use any technique other than the Hyuga Gentle Fist makes them all the more restrained.

But well, these are just Tatsumi’s thoughts, the Hyuga themselves don’t think that’s the case, and they are extremely proud of their skills.

Going back to the battle, standing in the arena, Tsukiko seemed to want to do nothing but defeat Hiashi and prove that she was more talented than the firstborn child of their family, she took a deep breath and then approached him at a speed you wouldn’t expect from nine-year-old trainees, then started to confront her elder brother.

Tsukiko defended against Hiashi's first palm with her left hand, then turned her right hand lightly and tried to land a strike on Hiashi’s face. Hiashi lowered his head to avoid Tsukiko's right palm and drove chakra into Tsukiko’s arm through the Tenketsu point in her palm, he was attempting to block her Chakra Network Pathway with his Chakra.

Tsukiko immediately avoided the palm strike and waved her right leg to break Hiashi’s stance. Hiashi had already seen through his little sister’s attack using his Byakugan and leaped high to avoid the kick. The first exchange ended with particular no result, and the pair of siblings distanced themselves.

Hiashi once again looked at Tsukiko, however, this time, he did not try to persuade her to give up. Having grown up alongside her, he knows his little sister’s character very well. He knows her stubbornness and the reason behind her stubbornness.

However, the traditions and rules of their Clan have enabled them to survive this Shinobi World for a millennium, it’s not something that can be opposed or changed just because she refuses to accept it.

With a sigh, Hiashi once again leaped high and threw several Shuriken, then pounced at Tsukiko without giving any breathing room.

Seeing that Tsukiko was starting to fall into a disadvantage, Tsukiko’s fanboys booed for Hiashi.

“Hiashi, you should eat shit!”

“Go die in some foul-smelling sever!”

“You stink!”

The Atmosphere continued to escalate as all the Tsukiko fanboys and fangirls wanted her to beat Hiashi into a pulp!

Seeing that the children were going crazy, Tatsumi and the Co hurriedly retreated back. No kidding, the atmosphere is very hot, it wouldn’t be surprising if all the children rushed to the arena to personally teach Hiashi a lesson.

Tsukiko dodged the Shurikens with the help of a Substitution Jutsu and hurriedly tried to defend against Hiashi’s attacks. From countless duels they have fought within their clans, both are aware of the fact that Tsukiko is not as good as him when it comes to close combat.

For one, Tsukiko is younger than Hiashi so there’s bound to be a difference in their experience and mastery, another thing is that Tsukiko is a woman, therefore, she is physically weaker than her elder brother, so it’s only natural that she is not as strong as Hiashi.

On the surface, the Hyuga Clansmen’s attacks are relatively simple. All they need to do is get close to their enemy, then use Gentle Fist Art to seal the other party’s Tenketsu to restrict their Chakra. Once the other person is unable to use Chakra, they are no longer a threat as it is almost impossible to immediately unseal Tenketsu, after all, not everyone has an atomic bomb sealed in their stomach.

Of course, the Hyuga Clansmen also have some forbidden Jutsu for long-range and mid-range combat, it’s not something Hiashi and Tsukiko have mastered at such a young age.

After defending against several consecutive palm strikes, Tsukiko recovered her calmness as she finally found an opportunity to exploit. She kicked hard on Hiashi’s thigh with all her strength causing the older Hyuga to fall back a little and regain his footing. Tsukiko didn’t waste this short window she had gotten, she quickly weaved the hand signs as she gathered Chakra in her stomach and then expelled it in the form of a gust of wind, ‘Wind Style: Breakthrough!’

The gust of wind was powerful enough to immediately blow away everything within her vicinity and it attacked Hiashi.

Looking at the fierce gust of wind about to attack Hiashi, all the fanboys exclaimed excitedly, “Bury him into the walls!”

But how could it be so easy?

The moment the gust of wind attacked Hiashi, his body turned into a cloud of smoke and disappeared.

‘Shadow Clone Jutsu?’ Tsukiko quickly recovered from disappointment and focused on the other part of the arena. She did not have to put any effort into finding her elder brother, however, Hiashi moved faster, and by the time she located him he had already pounced on her once again, “Tsukiko, this is the end… I am about to use the Jutsu that I have been practicing for quite a while now… If you are defeated, then accept everything as it is…!”

‘Gentle Fist Art: Eight Trigrams Sixty-Four Palms!’