However, not all encounters were friendly or respectful.

For instance, to certain white-eyed ninja, the appearance of the mantis seemed like a direct provocation—an insult to their existence.

During the earlier pursuit, the Hyuga clan had embodied the phrase "can see but can't touch," their reach embarrassingly short.

They could only watch as numerous other shinobi ganged up on the giant mantis, praising its exceptional taijutsu techniques.

Hearing these remarks, the Hyuga could barely keep their composure. As a noble family of Konohagakure, and the self-proclaimed number one taijutsu clan in the shinobi world, this was a slap in the face.

Of course, few people were actually thinking in those terms—most ninja were more focused on snagging a chance to challenge the mantis and improve themselves, rather than wasting time comparing clan rankings.

Eventually, a Hyuga from the branch family managed to secure a spot in the challenge.

At the signal from one of the three Hyuga elders, the rest of the clan began to hype him up.

The mantis clone paused, raising a hand to gesture the challenger forward.

Gentle Fist!

Bang bang bang bang bang!

The Hyuga branch member threw out his full arsenal of techniques—only to be effortlessly predicted, intercepted, and neutralized by the mantis clone. Then, with its blade-like limbs, it hooked him mid-strike and flung him effortlessly out of the arena.

Utterly boring.

The Hyuga branch's repertoire was just the same few techniques recycled over and over again—no creativity, not even a change in sequence.

The only thing even remotely praiseworthy was their penetration strikes, which you easily read and countered from the get-go.

To you, it was no different from sparring against the lowest-difficulty NPCs in a simulation. Do it too much, and it might actually make you overconfident—or worse, as weak as they are.

That was exactly why your mantis clone had been avoiding the Hyuga until now...

With the branch member defeated, the other shinobi began scrambling for their own shot at the challenge again.

But the Hyuga main family elder scoffed, using sheer numbers to shove aside the others and claim the next challenge opportunity all for themselves.

Most of the surrounding ninja were only Chūnin, with just a handful of Tokubetsu Jōnin and Jōnin. The reason? On the first day of sparring with the mantis clone, they'd all been injured and were still recovering.

Those who remained were mostly weakly backed or individually unimpressive. And with the Hyuga clan blocking the way, they could only step aside and give up their spot.

One by one, the elder sent up several branch family members whom he considered reasonably strong.

But to you, these people were barely any different. Aside from a slightly better grasp of penetration techniques, their only distinction was the varying degrees of raw Strength.

No thrill at all.

You didn't even bother pretending anymore. At first, you half-heartedly went through the motions of trading blows, but soon you were just walking up and knocking them out one by one.

The elder's expression darkened steadily, but to his credit—as expected of a major clan—he didn't disgrace himself by publicly punishing the defeated branch members with the Caged Bird Seal. At least he knew how to maintain appearances.

Eventually, the Hyuga clan's Great Elder sent his own grandson into the fray.

This time, you clearly felt a difference. The Gentle Fist techniques were far more refined than those of the earlier challengers, with real variety—no longer just a series of rote movements like fighting a training dummy.

So you got a little more serious, and used the Steel Fist style you'd collected over the past few days to spar with him move for move.

Before long, you'd absorbed and neutralized all of his Gentle Fist techniques.

The main family's young heir, lacking real combat experience, fell soon after.

Still, in your ongoing sparring with the Hyuga, the majority of their techniques remained rigid and repetitive—even among the elders of both main and branch families.

Their movements were textbook, and the Byakugan's enhancements to physical stats just meant more power behind those same predictable moves.

Even advanced techniques like Air Palm and Rotation were easily mimicked and broken down in your eyes.

Only Neji managed to catch your interest—barely.

Despite being from the branch family, his techniques weren't stiff at all. On the contrary, the limitations of not being allowed to learn the full Gentle Fist system had driven him to innovate and refine his own style. Even at just four or five years old, there was already a unique flair in his movements...

As the Hyuga were gradually defeated across the board—without anyone suffering any lasting injuries—the village's hostility toward your mantis clone reached its lowest point yet.

Hiashi Hyuga and the remaining main family elders also wisely chose not to intervene further. It preserved the clan's pride as the top taijutsu lineage, while also scoring some much-needed public goodwill.

Afterward, you had your mantis clone disappear for a while.

When it returned, it had already fully absorbed and digested all the previously recorded techniques.

This time, your target for sparring was shinobi skilled in swordsmanship. Naturally, as the inheritors of one of Konoha's major kenjutsu styles, the Uchiha clan were among them.

As for who Fugaku was? Sorry, no one cared. With the dove faction practically in full retreat, hiding in their shells...

Hiruzen Sarutobi had already issued a warrant for their arrest, declaring Uchiha Fugaku, Uchiha Itachi, Uchiha Sasuke, and others as traitors who'd fled the village.

Danzo confirmed this as well. And just like that, with the clan head gone rogue...

Konoha and the Uchiha set aside old grudges, throwing all their elite forces into what had become a grand village-wide event of self-improvement.

You, meanwhile, had reinterpreted the Gentle Fist's Air Palm techniques into swordsmanship, using your bladed limbs to unleash waves of sword aura with nothing but raw physical strength.

...

〖Fifth Day〗

Hiruzen Sarutobi and Shimura Danzo jointly announced that Konoha had signed a contract with the mantis.

An arena was set up, where any ninja could challenge it to improve themselves.

Those who performed well could earn rewards—ninjutsu, taijutsu, genjutsu, even ninja tools.

A flood of ninja arrived.

This was also why you chose to operate through a mantis clone—despite any past conflicts, it was easier to integrate and continuously gain battle experience from Konoha's shinobi.

If you had suddenly appeared in your true form, as a total outsider, the effect wouldn't have been the same.

Worse, you'd likely be seen as an aggressor, leading to a lose-lose scenario rather than win-win cooperation.

Among the challengers were even some ninja academy students skipping class.

After all, compared to the slow drip-feed teaching style of academy instructors, actual combat was much faster for improvement.

And thanks to the chaotic experiences of earlier battles, you had started to sense the formation of a true combat style that suited you...

...

〖Sixth Day〗

You specifically chose to spar only with taijutsu specialists.

Most were Genin, occasionally a few Chūnin. As for Jōnin, the only one you knew of was Might Guy.

Unfortunately, he seemed to be away on a mission—you never saw him.

But what interested you wasn't the ninja's physical stats. It was their techniques.

Weaker ninja, lacking in Strength, often poured their efforts into mastering precise techniques to compensate.

And those refined techniques were exactly what you needed.

In these matches—where strength didn't matter, only technique—you gradually began to feel a kind of exhilaration.

It seemed that pure technique improvement alone could greatly enhance a key, vital aspect of yourself.

Through these numerous sparring sessions, many of the taijutsu users—forced to specialize due to chakra limitations—received the greatest boon of their lives.

Especially the older Genin and Chūnin who hadn't given up, and still came up with creative moves—you opened up a trove of ninjutsu and ninja tool resources for them.

...

〖Seventh Day〗

You continued taijutsu sparring with Konoha's ninja.

During breaks, you split the mantis clone in two, controlling them with your Spirit to spar against each other.

The more you fought, the more excited you became, constantly absorbing and refining techniques.

...

〖Eighth Day〗

You had already completed one full round of sparring with all the taijutsu ninja in Konoha.

Some of the more diligent ones, or those struck by sudden inspiration, had already challenged your clone for a second or even third round.

But while the occasional bout still felt fresh, your progress in pure taijutsu had clearly begun to slow.

That strange thrill from before was also starting to fade...

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