Naruto: Talent Entry Perks

"Soft Fist... Eight Trigrams: Sixty-Four Palms!"

A delicate cry echoed through the traditional dojo.

Then came a series of rapid impacts.

Inside the dojo, the sister-in-law—dressed in a yellow-brown kimono, her long hair flowing—abandoned her usual coquettish and clingy behavior. Veins bulged at her temples as she activated the Byakugan. Blue chakra flames surged around her palms as she struck at Izayoi, who was standing motionless.

"Two palms, four palms, eight palms, sixteen palms, thirty-two palms... sixty-four palms!"

Her slender jade-like fingers pierced through the clothes, striking the body's key acupuncture points one after another. Chakra was channeled through the fingertips, trying to penetrate skin and flesh, injuring the meridians and internal organs.

The forceful chakra blasts stirred the air, blowing both Hanabi's and Izayoi's clothes into fluttering.

After finishing the sixty-four palms, Hanabi didn't stop. She spun a full circle and launched a palm strike, shouting: "Eight Trigrams: Vacuum Palm!"

Chakra surged out in a shockwave.

But the expected scene didn't occur.

The shockwave didn't pass through Izayoi—it struck him directly and exploded like a Wind Release technique. The blast rebounded, flinging Hanabi's small hand back and throwing her away.

Before she could crash to the ground and roll, Izayoi appeared behind her in a flash and caught her in his arms.

"My hand hurts! It hurts…"

Hanabi cried out in pain, blowing on her red and swollen hand.

When the pain eased a bit, she looked at Izayoi with teary eyes and asked, "Onii-chan, is your body made of steel? Why is it so hard!"

"You're wrong. My body is harder than steel now," Izayoi replied with a smile. He set Hanabi down, rolled up his sleeve, and held out his forearm.

Watching Hanabi bite his forearm to absorb chakra, Izayoi explained gently, "Wood Style is a Kekkei Genkai formed by fusing Water and Earth nature transformations. Yang Release chakra not only enhances Wood Style, but also boosts the Water and Earth transformations. Just now, Onii-chan used Wood Style chakra to cast an enhanced version of Earth Style: Earth Spear. My body's defense is stronger than diamond. If you want to knock Onii-chan back, you'll need to learn the Chakra-Enhanced Strength technique or open the Eight Gates."

"Wow… So powerful!"

Hanabi let go of his arm, stunned at first, then pouted with a wronged expression. "Then why did you use that technique on Hanabi, Onii-chan? You know I just learned the Eight Trigrams: Sixty-Four Palms—there's no way I could break your defense!"

"Because Onii-chan wants to teach you a technique. Want to learn it?" Izayoi rubbed her head and smiled.

"Mhm!"

Hanabi nodded eagerly, eyes full of anticipation. "Onii-chan, what kind of technique?"

"Watch closely…"

Izayoi stood upright, looked at a wooden dummy not far away, then raised a sword-shaped finger and thrust it forward.

Whoosh!

A piercing sound rang out as if an invisible arrow shot through the air.

Boom!

The wooden dummy exploded into fragments on the spot.

"…"

Hanabi stared wide-eyed in shock at where the dummy had been.

Snapping out of it, she looked up quickly and asked, "Onii-chan, how did you do that?!"

"This is a more refined version of the Vacuum Palm, or you could call it a chakra burst. It fuses the strength of the Chakra-Enhanced Strike with the Soft Fist," Izayoi said with a smile. "At its core, it's just a higher level of chakra control."

"As long as your chakra control reaches my level, whether it's Soft Fist or Chakra-Enhanced Strikes, it's just a matter of releasing chakra with precision."

"The difference is, your Hyuga clan has average chakra reserves, so you focus on the Soft Fist that matches your bloodline. The Senju clan has massive chakra, so they favor the explosive Steel Fist style."

"But you and Hinata are different. You can walk the path of combining strength and finesse."

Izayoi repeated the poking motion and grinned. "Just imagine, if the finger you used had my power—if it could penetrate the enemy's body and then explode chakra inside—what would that look like?"

"Onii-chan, you're amazing! You really are Hanabi's idol!"

Hanabi jumped into his arms, wrapped her legs around his waist, hugged his neck, and looked up with admiration. "Onii-chan, when you become a jonin, Hanabi will apply for early graduation so you can be my personal jonin instructor, okay?"

Thinking she was joking, Izayoi smirked and patted her little butt. "Then call me Teacher Izayoi first."

"Teacher Izayoi! Teacher Izayoi! Teacher Izayoi!" Hanabi called out three times loudly and clearly. Then, before he could react, she gave him a hard kiss on the cheek, jumped down, waved goodbye, and ran off with a triumphant laugh.

"Then it's settled! I'm going to tell Father right now!"

"Huh?"

Izayoi stood there stunned, his jaw nearly dropping to the floor.

By the time he snapped out of it, his sister-in-law was already gone.

He left the dojo with a helpless smile, planning to find Hinata to tell her what had just happened—and maybe pay back the debt he owed to her older sister.

But at that moment, a black blur appeared silently at the edge of his vision.

Looking at the female Anbu in front of him—dressed in a standard Anbu uniform, wearing a cat mask, but with unmistakable purple hair—Iizayoi narrowed his eyes slightly and said, "What is it, Yugao?"

"Izayoi-sama, the Hokage has summoned you urgently to the office and ordered the Eighth Team to assemble immediately," Uzuki Yugao said respectfully, kneeling on one knee.

As an Anbu, she didn't need to salute a mere chunin.

But Uzuki Yugao wasn't a regular Anbu. She was stationed near the Hokage's office and acted as Tsunade's direct subordinate.

From her conversations with Samui and her private talks with Izayoi, Tsunade had already confirmed him as the sole candidate for the Sixth Hokage.

So like most Konoha shinobi, Yugao treated Izayoi with great respect.

Hearing the words "urgent summon," Izayoi's brow furrowed slightly. He nodded. "Got it. I'll go now."

"Yes."

Yugao lowered her head, then vanished in a blur.

Izayoi instantly flew toward the Hokage Building.

On the way, he contacted the wooden clone stationed externally to check if anything major had happened recently in the ninja world.

Soon, the clone sent back two real-time images.

One showed a city, half of it turned into rubble. It was a relatively prosperous city in the Land of Wind.

The other image showed a large number of Sand Shinobi scouring the area. It wasn't clear whether they were searching for something or someone.

But judging from the earlier image of the destruction, they were likely searching for the culprit.

Izayoi frowned slightly, analyzing the information.

"It doesn't look like it was caused by ninjutsu—it's more like a massive explosion from detonating tags. Could it be Konan? No, the wooden clone constantly monitors Akatsuki. If Konan made a move, it would've reported it."

"There are over a thousand Sand Ninjas mobilized. For them to deploy so many shinobi, this is definitely a major event. Is it from the original story? The blank three-year period? Or a butterfly effect I caused?"

"Whatever. If I don't remember it, then it probably wasn't part of the main plot and isn't important."

With that, Izayoi composed himself and entered the Hokage's office.

"Hey, Izayoi!"

As soon as the door opened, he saw four familiar faces—it was Team 7.

Uzumaki Naruto waved with a smile. Izayoi raised a hand in return but looked at the team with a strange expression, the corner of his mouth twitching slightly.

Apparently, this big event wasn't caused by his interference but must have been something he missed in his past life—maybe something he didn't watch or had forgotten entirely.

Was it a side story?

An original TV filler?

A movie?

"If I can't remember it at all, then it must've been trash—or extremely boring," Izayoi silently complained.

But soon, his expression grew serious.

The wooden clone sent another real-time image.

It showed Nagato using the Elephant Transformation Technique—using White Zetsu clones to create doppelgangers of Akatsuki members including himself, then having Uchiha Obito collect them one by one into Kamui space.

Clearly, Nagato was now wary of Izayoi's Rinnegan and had deliberately chosen Obito's Kamui space as a secure meeting place.

Maybe this was why he hadn't fallen out with Uchiha Obito yet.

This mindset was entirely different from the Nagato who had been manipulated like a fool in the original work.

"Did regaining his youth also improve his brain?" Izayoi couldn't help but complain inwardly.