315 - Naruto: The Tenseigan Ascendant (Patreon)

315 - Ancor Vantian

Outside the Hyuga compound, Hizashi pulled Naoki aside. "Naoki, what you said to Neji back at the main house was meant for the rest of us too, wasn't it?"

Naoki smiled but did not deny it.

Hizashi grew serious. "You have a problem with how the clan trains its children?"

"I have some suggestions," Naoki said.

"Such as?"

"We can't focus on Gentle Fist alone. The Hyuga need to develop other skills, or we'll struggle to keep our place in the shinobi world."

Hizashi frowned. "What other skills?"

As a member of the branch family, Hizashi had more reason than the main family to welcome reform. But even he could not see where the clan should begin.

Naoki shrugged. "The things we're bad at."

"Bad at?"

Hizashi looked puzzled. Gentle Fist worked against almost any opponent, and he could see no obvious weakness in it. What did Naoki mean?

Naoki sighed. Even Hizashi had not grasped the limits of their fighting style.

"All right," Hizashi said. "Tell me what we're missing."

Naoki raised a finger. "We can't fight Tailed Beasts."

Gentle Fist could wreck an opponent's chakra pathways without leaving much of a mark. Against a creature as enormous as a Tailed Beast, though, its reach and power fell short.

Hizashi stared at him. "A monster like that is beyond one or two shinobi. Of course we can't fight it alone."

Naoki shook his head. "Plenty of Uchiha can subdue a Tailed Beast one-on-one. Why shouldn't we aim that high? The Byakugan is an ocular kekkei genkai too. Are we supposed to use it only for scouting?"

Hizashi had no answer.

Naoki raised a second finger. "We can't break through Susanoo either. An Uchiha who can use it could overwhelm the whole clan."

Against the Susanoo of a Mangekyo Sharingan user, even the finest Gentle Fist technique would be nearly useless.

Sasuke's taunt to Hinata in the snow had not been mere childish boasting. As more Uchiha awakened the Mangekyo Sharingan, the Hyuga, once spoken of in the same breath as the Uchiha, looked increasingly outmatched.

Hizashi opened his mouth to argue, then stopped. He could think of no way to face Susanoo himself.

Naoki let the point settle. "We need techniques with more force, larger summons, and sealing jutsu we can use alongside the Byakugan. The shinobi world is full of monsters now. We need a way to fight them."

Those were the gaps he considered most urgent.

In particular, he thought the clan should spend whatever it took to secure a contract with a giant summoning species. Only then would the Hyuga have a chance against enemies too large for Gentle Fist to handle.

Sealing techniques were another glaring weakness.

The clan had developed the Caged Bird Seal to control its own members, yet it had few seals it could use against an enemy. Naoki found that bitterly absurd.

Gentle Fist demanded such precision that it was less versatile than Strong Fist.

In the original timeline, Might Guy had not killed Six Paths Madara with his final kick, but he had at least been able to enter that fight and matter.

The Hyuga, by contrast, had been sidelined from Pain's attack on Konoha onward. From Hiashi down to Neji and Hinata, none had been able to turn the tide. Their Byakugan's scouting ability was the only contribution anyone remembered.

For all its potential, the clan's ocular kekkei genkai had been reduced to a reconnaissance tool.

"Gentle Fist made the Hyuga what we are," Naoki said. "It's also holding us back. We can still change that."

"Let me think about it," Hizashi said.

Naoki left him with that thought, then asked, "By the way, does anyone in the clan know the Spirit Transformation Technique?"

"Spirit Transformation? I don't think so. Why?"

Naoki had considered telling Hizashi about the spirit he had seen in the compound that night. After a moment, he decided not to alert anyone yet. "Just curious."

He took Shion and Taruho and headed home.

Naoki had little say in clan affairs. Even Hiashi, its head, would struggle to change the Hyuga's course.

Tradition held the clan so tightly that no one person could break its grip.

In the Land of Hot Water.

A shinobi wearing a Sky Ninja headband approached Shinno. "Sir, we've moved the supplies you ordered into Ancor Vantian."

Shinno nodded. "Good."

"When can we stop hiding and take our revenge on Konoha?"

"Soon. The Sky Ninja will rise again." Shinno smiled toward the distance. "We'll bury Konoha from the air."

The shinobi could barely contain his excitement. "Should we activate Ancor Vantian now?"

Ancor Vantian was the last great achievement of the Sky Ninja: a secret fortress large enough to serve as a flying city.

It could fly, and it carried a weapon whose destructive power surpassed even a Tailed Beast Ball.

In the original timeline, Shinno had powered that weapon with the inferior Zero-Tails. Its blast destroyed a mountain and went on to sink several Sky Ninja aircraft carriers miles away.

Much of Shinno's obsession with creating an artificial Tailed Beast came from his need for enough chakra to power both Ancor Vantian and its weapon.

Now he had a chakra source far stronger than the Zero-Tails. Activating the flying fortress would be easier than ever.