Chapter 8: Rank Difference, the Use of Points

  Throughout the entire summer vacation, Izayoi trained together with Hinata.

  Every day, he would first confirm Ino Yamanaka's location, then use the Transformation Technique to invite Hinata out. The two would head to the deserted training ground, where they either practiced tree walking or engaged in Taijutsu sparring.

  Having gained friendship and found confidence, Hinata underwent astonishing changes during this summer vacation – not just in terms of strength, but also in her overall temperament and aura.

  Hiashi Hyūga was the first to notice the changes in his eldest daughter. When he learned Hinata was practicing water walking, he realized her outings weren't simply about making friends and pying.

  Izayoi also noticed that someone was secretly monitoring him and Hinata. However, instead of hiding, Izayoi decided to probe and test Hiashi Hyūga's attitude.

  That day, Izayoi found an excuse for Hinata to watch how he performed water walking. Additionally, Izayoi demonstrated the Shadow Clone Technique and low-level Wind Release, and utterly dominated Hinata in their Taijutsu spar.

  Then, the next day, Izayoi once again transformed into Ino Yamanaka and went to the Hyūga compound to invite Hinata out. The moment he saw Hinata emerge, he understood Hiashi Hyūga's stance. The head of the prestigious cn had tacitly approved of Hinata training with him.

  To these ninja cns, Izayoi's background held practically no secrets. A commoner orphan from a ninja family who, before even completing three terms of the first year, had already mastered tree walking and water walking (which weren't even taught at the Ninja Academy yet), and could also use the Shadow Clone Technique and low-level Wind Release. Such talent, along with his chakra reserves, undoubtedly marked him as a commoner genius of this era.

  Training alongside such a genius would give Hinata greater motivation. This was evident from Hinata diligently practicing water walking at home and the changes in her personality and demeanor. Although Hiashi Hyūga was somewhat disappointed in his eldest daughter's performance, having not yet discovered Hanabi's talent, he hadn't given up on Hinata or started considering cultivating his second daughter instead. Seeing Hinata change so significantly just by making one friend, Hiashi could only feel pleased.

  As for the idea of breaking up the pair , Hiashi didn't entertain it. Firstly, the two were too young; their retionship was likely just pure friendship for now. Secondly, in his eyes, a retionship between Izayoi and Hinata was impossible. The Hyūga Cn's Byakugan could absolutely not be allowed to spread outside the cn. Izayoi was merely a tool to help change Hinata. He would continuously observe their retionship, and if either side showed signs of change (implying romantic feelings), Hiashi would intervene and inform them of the cruel reality. Unless Izayoi proved to be exceptionally outstanding, like the Fourth Hokage Minato Namikaze, the two of them had no future together.

  Izayoi and Hinata were unaware of all this. Seeing that Hiashi Hyūga wasn't preventing them from spending time together, Izayoi felt completely reassured. He proceeded to teach Hinata the Three Basic Academy Techniques and chakra control skills, while simultaneously using their Taijutsu sparring sessions to try and "force out" Hinata's Red trait.

  This summer vacation was fruitful for both Izayoi and Hinata.

  Hinata had mastered the skills of tree walking and water walking, and also learned the Three Basic Techniques. However, possibly due to insufficient chakra reserves, she hadn't yet learned the Shadow Clone Technique. Additionally, her pressure point strikes had improved remarkably.

  Among Izayoi's talent traits was *Medical Genius (Blue)*. His mother in this life had been a medical ninja, and her legacy included scrolls on basic medical ninjutsu, which Izayoi had long since mastered. In order to obtain the *Princess of the Byakugan (Red)* trait, Izayoi, after going easy for the first few days to give Hinata some time to adapt, started sparring seriously, thrashing Hinata mercilessly. After fighting, he would then heal her.

  It was sparring, but vastly different from her sessions with Neji Hyūga. Although Neji harbored resentment towards Hinata, with Hiashi watching, he wouldn't dare actually harm her. Izayoi, however, fought for real, showing no tender affection for the opposite sex. Regardless of consequences, he would beat her up first and coax her afterward.

  Constantly taking beatings, Hinata's practical combat experience naturally skyrocketed. Her attacks became increasingly decisive, striking Izayoi's body with chakra without hesitation. Getting beaten up and then healed became routine, ensuring she would absolutely not end up like her original story counterpart – too kind-hearted to injure her younger sister, ultimately losing to Hanabi who was five years younger. It was precisely this obvious change that made Hiashi Hyūga completely acquiesce to Izayoi and Hinata's 'rendezvous'.

  Although Izayoi didn't manage to obtain the *Princess of the Byakugan (Red)* trait this summer, his own improvement was also significant. Through sparring with Hinata, Izayoi had secretly learned the Hyūga Cn's pressure point techniques. After testing Hiashi's attitude, Izayoi, under the guise of providing guidance, had Hinata secretly bring out a human acupoint chart and a scroll detailing the pressure point strike technique. Izayoi had now mastered the body's pressure points and the technique of injecting chakra into them. He wasn't interested in the Eight Trigrams Palm style itself, but the skill of sealing an enemy's chakra flow via pressure points greatly interested him. It could potentially have miraculous effects in battle.

  While he didn't get the Red trait, Izayoi did acquire two traits from Hinata this summer.

  One was the *Chakra Control (Blue)* trait, which Izayoi already possessed. At that moment, a prompt sounded in Izayoi's mind:

  *"Ding! You have obtained Talent Trait [Chakra Control (Blue)]. It overps with your existing Talent Trait. Fuse or Decompose?"*

  Izayoi chose to fuse. After fusion, the *Chakra Control* trait didn't turn Purple; it remained Blue. However, Izayoi felt a noticeable improvement in his chakra control. At that moment, Izayoi finally understood why Sakura Haruno could surpass Hinata (who practiced Gentle Fist since childhood) and Shizune (who studied under Tsunade since childhood) in just three years. Just as the ōtsutsuki bloodline existed in both, yet the Hyūga cn couldn't compare to the Moon branch, *Chakra Control* traits also had vast differences. Even fusing two Blue traits couldn't reach the Purple level. Yet, Purple-ranked *Chakra Control* allowed Sakura to learn advanced medical ninjutsu, the Senju cn's chakra burst technique (super strength), and the S-rank difficulty Yin Seal / Strength of a Hundred Technique in just three years.

  Besides *Chakra Control*, Izayoi also obtained a Purple trait: *Kekkei Genkai: Byakugan*. Unfortunately, a Kekkei Genkai trait was just that – a Kekkei Genkai. *Princess of the Byakugan* was something different. If Izayoi hadn't already possessed the *Kekkei Genkai: Byakugan* trait from copying Toneri's bloodline, which manifested it, obtaining this Purple one would only grant him a pair of Byakugan, not the Byakugan *plus* Hinata's level of Byakugan purity.

  Izayoi chose to decompose this trait. Merging Byakugans would certainly improve the purity of his own Byakugan. However, awakening the Tenseigan this way was impossible. Just like fusing two *Chakra Control (Blue)* traits wouldn't result in a Purple trait, fusing Byakugan wasn't a simple path to Tenseigan. The ōtsutsuki cn on the Moon sacrificed the Byakugan of their entire branch family to fuse the Tenseigan. The final form, the Giant Tenseigan, might have even incorporated the Main Family's Byakugan. Given the ōtsutsuki cn's bloodline purity, their Byakugan purity was definitely higher than the Hyūga's. If Izayoi wanted to evolve the Tenseigan by fusing Byakugan traits, who knew how many he would need to fuse? Merging these two traits would simply be a waste. Izayoi didn't ck that small amount of purity boost; his goal was the Red trait.

  After decomposing the *Kekkei Genkai: Byakugan (Purple)*, Izayoi gained over a thousand points, and his status panel changed:

  [Host: Izayo

  [Talent Traits: ōtsutsuki Bloodline (Red), Beyond Kage Aptitude (Gold), Kekkei Genkai: Byakugan (Purple), All-Affinity Constitution (Purple), Medical Genius (Blue) [+], Chakra Control (Blue) [+]]

  [Points: 1791]

  A plus sign [+] appeared next to *Medical Genius* and *Chakra Control*, indicating they were now upgradeable.

  This revealed the purpose of the points.

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