Uchiha orphan, so what if I'm ruthless?

Before Hyuga Hiashi could even speak, a Main House elder jumped forward.

The man had completely white hair and a face full of wrinkles, his Byakugan gleaming coldly under the lights. He pointed a finger at Uchiha Taiga, his voice so loud it made the entire assembly hall buzz.

"Where do you think you are?"

Without waiting for Hiashi to interject, the man waved his large hand, harshly barking orders at the Branch House ninjas outside the hall.

"What are you still staring at? Hurry up and attack! Subdue this brat! We absolutely cannot allow a second pair of Byakugan to exist in the ninja world outside the Hyuga clan!"

Perhaps because he was too accustomed to looking down on others, or perhaps because it had been too long since anyone dared to run wild in the Hyuga compound, this Main House elder was currently consumed by nothing but sheer rage.

In his eyes, the Hyuga clan had always been the number one dojutsu clan in the ninja world. The Byakugan's insight was unparalleled, and the Gentle Fist was invincible in close combat.

Furthermore, this was the Hyuga compound—their home turf. The inside and outside of the assembly hall were already surrounded by dozens of Branch House ninjas, while Uchiha Taiga was entirely alone.

One person against dozens.

Was the outcome even in doubt?

The corners of his mouth even curled up slightly, as if he could already picture the scene of this arrogant youth being subdued, branded with the Caged Bird seal, and locked away in some dark corner of the Hyuga compound.

Hearing this, Hyuga Hiashi's expression changed drastically.

He wanted to voice his objection and stop them, but it was already too late.

After all, he had only been the clan head for a couple of years and was still building his prestige. The elder who had jumped out was a senior figure of the Main House who had operated within the clan for decades. His control over those Branch House ninjas was far stronger than that of the young clan head.

Therefore, upon hearing the command, the Branch House ninjas' bodies moved instinctively.

It had nothing to do with loyalty or courage; it was purely because of the order. A command from the Main House meant everything to them.

If they disobeyed, what awaited them was the punishment of the Caged Bird seal. No one wanted to endure that agonizing pain erupting from the depths of their brains a second time.

The Branch House ninjas charged into the assembly hall.

They activated their Byakugan, veins bulging on both sides of their eyes, their white pupils reflecting Uchiha Taiga's figure.

The three at the very front struck simultaneously.

Gentle Fist!

Three formless palm strikes surged toward Uchiha Taiga from three different directions. The speed was astonishing, accompanied by sharp whistling sounds tearing through the air.

Uchiha Taiga turned sideways, dodging the first palm strike. He leaned back slightly, allowing the second palm to brush past his chest. When the third palm reached his face, he didn't dodge again. Instead, he raised his hand, spread his five fingers, and directly swatted the palm strike away.

The force of the strike exploded in his palm with a muffled thud, yet his hand remained completely motionless.

The three Branch House ninjas exchanged a glance and closed in on him simultaneously.

Gentle Fist Art: Eight Trigrams Palms!

Three people, six palms, attacking the chakra points all over Uchiha Taiga's body from different angles.

Every palm carried chakra, and every strike was precisely aimed at the vital points of the human chakra pathway system.

Uchiha Taiga's eyes changed.

The pure white of the Byakugan was instantly dyed crimson, and three tomoe slowly surfaced in his irises.

Three-Tomoe Sharingan, dynamic vision fully activated.

He moved.

He didn't counterattack; he simply evaded.

His body seemed boneless as he weaved through the barrage of palm strikes.

Dodging left, evading right, ducking, turning sideways, leaning back, tilting forward—every movement was executed perfectly. Every palm brushed past him; not a single strike landed on his body.

The Branch House ninjas grew faster, their palm strikes becoming denser, but Uchiha Taiga's evasion speed increased as well.

His Sharingan captured all their movements, and his body, guided by the Sharingan, made the most precise reactions.

About ten seconds passed.

The Eight Trigrams Palms completely missed.

The three Branch House ninjas' breathing grew ragged, beads of sweat seeping from their foreheads.

They took a half-step back, readjusting their breathing, preparing to launch another offensive.

More Branch House ninjas swarmed in.

Some attacked from the front, some flanked from the sides, and others leaped onto the rafters of the assembly hall to dive down from above.

Over a dozen people struck simultaneously, the force of their Gentle Fist weaving into a dense, inescapable net in the air.

This time, Uchiha Taiga's eyes changed once more.

The crimson faded, replaced by pure white.

Byakugan activated. The veins on the sides of his eyes bulged slightly. His three-hundred-and-sixty-degree vision took in everyone's positions, movements, and even breathing rhythms.

He stopped dodging and assumed a stance.

That stance made everyone present freeze for a moment.

Feet spread shoulder-width apart, knees slightly bent, center of gravity lowered. Right hand forward, left hand back, palms facing each other, fingertips pointing up.

It was the standard, textbook starting stance of the Gentle Fist.

Hyuga Hiashi's pupils violently contracted.

But Uchiha Taiga was already moving.

His figure spun within the assembly hall, moving so fast he left behind only afterimages. His hands traced elegant arcs in the air, chakra bursting from his palms, accurately striking every Branch House ninja that approached him.

"Gentle Fist Art: Eight Trigrams Palms!"

*Smack!*

"Eight Trigrams Two Palms!"

*Smack! Smack!*

"Eight Trigrams Four Palms!"

*Smack! Smack! Smack! Smack!*

Crisp sounds echoed through the assembly hall, calm and unhurried, as if he were reciting a chant he had repeated countless times.

"Eight Palms!"

"Sixteen Palms!"

"Thirty-Two Palms!"

His speed grew faster and faster, his palm strikes increasingly dense.

Those Branch House ninjas didn't even have time to react before his palm strikes hit their chakra points. Their chakra was sealed, their bodies stiffened, and their movements ground to a halt.

"Sixty-Four Palms!"

Sixty-four palm strikes erupted simultaneously in an instant, like sixty-four bombs detonating at the exact same moment.

The bodies of the Branch House ninjas looked as if they had been struck by a massive force. One by one, they plummeted from mid-air, crashing heavily onto the tatami mats with dull thuds.

Some twitched, some fainted outright, and some kept their eyes open but found their bodies completely paralyzed.

Over a dozen people, all incapacitated and on the floor in less than half a minute.

The assembly hall fell silent.

The Branch House ninjas still standing outside the doors widened their eyes, their expressions shifting to pure shock and utter incomprehension.

What had they just witnessed?

An Uchiha had used the Hyuga clan's Gentle Fist to defeat Hyuga ninjas.

Moreover, that Gentle Fist was more perfect than anyone they had ever seen. The angles, the power, the rhythm of the palm strikes, and the coordination with the Byakugan had all reached a height they could never hope to attain.

It didn't look like an imitation; it was true mastery, surpassing the Gentle Fist of the vast majority of the Hyuga clan.

Hyuga Hiashi's hands clenched tightly inside his sleeves.

His eyes were fixed dead on Uchiha Taiga, staring at those white eyes, staring at the youth who had assumed the Gentle Fist stance.

Only one thought echoed in his mind: *Just what kind of monster is this person?*

The Main House elders were also stunned.

Uchiha Taiga didn't give them time to react. His figure vanished from where he stood.

The next second, he appeared right in front of the Main House elder who had issued the order.

The elder's pupils shrank violently. He instinctively activated his Byakugan, his hands tracing an arc in front of him. Chakra surged from his palms, forming a high-speed rotating barrier around his body.

Gentle Fist Secret Art: Rotation!

This was the absolute defense technique passed down through generations of the Hyuga Main House. Using oneself as the center, a massive amount of chakra was released from all the chakra points on the body while spinning at high speeds, forming an indestructible chakra barrier that would repel any approaching enemy.

However, as everyone knew, the so-called absolute defenses in the ninja world were absolutely incapable of defending against everything.

Uchiha Taiga didn't even break his stride. The chakra on the surface of his body flared violently as he concentrated it into his palm. With a single thrust, he struck directly at one of its weak points.

In the face of that immense power, the high-speed rotating chakra barrier was like a thin sheet of paper, tearing apart in an instant.

The elder's body was left completely exposed to Uchiha Taiga. With his Rotation broken, his chakra fell into disarray, and his body stiffened for a split second.

Just that split second was enough.

Uchiha Taiga reached out, plunging two fingers precisely into the elder's eye sockets.

*Squelch.*

He gouged both eyeballs out of their sockets. The roots of the eyes were still connected to a few thin nerves and blood vessels, drawing two bloody arcs through the air.

"Ahhh!!!"

A bloodcurdling scream echoed through the assembly hall.

The elder clutched his empty eye sockets with both hands. Blood gushed through his fingers, streaming down his face and dripping onto his clothes and the tatami mats.

His body trembled, curling up into a ball like a rat caught in a trap.

Uchiha Taiga didn't stop.

He raised his hand, a Chakra Scalpel condensing into an invisible blade at his fingertips. He swiped it across the elder's neck—a movement so light and quick it looked like he was striking a match.

The elder's screams came to an abrupt halt. A thin red line appeared across his throat, rapidly expanding as blood sprayed from the incision.

Clutching his throat, he stared with two bloody, hollow sockets, his mouth opening and closing, but unable to make a single sound.

Soon after, his body went limp and collapsed. He twitched twice on the tatami mats before finally going still.

Uchiha Taiga pulled a glass vial from his robes, unscrewed the cap, and dropped the two eyeballs inside.

There were already two eyeballs in the vial—Hyuga Soma's. They floated quietly in the pale green preservation fluid, their white irises looking exceptionally translucent as they soaked in the liquid.

He screwed the cap back on tightly and returned the glass vial to his robes.

A deathly silence filled the assembly hall.

The Main House elders stood frozen in place. Some were deathly pale, some had trembling lips, and others had shaking legs, but not a single person spoke. Not a single person dared to move.

None of the Branch House ninjas standing outside the doors dared to enter either. They stared at the youth standing beside the elder's corpse, some subconsciously taking a half-step back.

Uchiha Taiga raised his head and looked around, his white eyes devoid of any warmth.

"You Hyuga really are arrogant."

His voice wasn't loud. "Did you think I was joking with you?"

He glanced down at the corpse by his feet.

The elder's throat was still seeping blood, staining the tatami mats and spreading into a large pool of crimson.

Retracting his gaze, Uchiha Taiga looked back at the Main House elders.

"The hunting hour has arrived. Are you ready?"