User blog:Ash9876/Things I Have Learned About the Gentle Fist

Hey there everyone! Your resident badass Ash is in the house! (You know it to be true.) So, across my tenure of creating my two most notable members of the Hyūga Clan: Kōshū Hyūga and Hamura Hyūga, I have come across a number of personal realizations about their signature fighting style known as the Gentle Fist that I would like to share with you. After looking through some articles on the wiki, I've found that most individuals don't exactly have any idea how to expand on the rather large base given for the Gentle Fist. So, let's get started!

Disclaimer: The opinions on this blog are completely mine and mine alone! You may choose to read the blog and even adopt similar opinions or challenge them with your own. Nobody is forcing this on you, it's simply something that I found intriguing about the Gentle Fist through my "research" for my own characters!

What is the Gentle Fist?
The Gentle Fist, as we all know from the canon description, is the following:
 * "The Gentle Fist (柔拳, Jūken) or Gentle Fist Art (柔拳法, Jūkenpō) is a form of hand-to-hand combat used by members of the Hyūga clan. It inflicts internal damage through attacking the body's Chakra Pathway System, subsequently injuring organs which are closely intertwined with the area of the network which has been struck. To do this, the user surgically injects a certain amount of their own chakra into the opponent's chakra pathway system, causing damage to surrounding organs due to their proximity to the chakra circulatory system. Even the slightest tap can cause severe internal damage, hence the name "gentle" fist."

But what does this really mean? Well, let us take the most prominent examples of the Hyūga Clan from the canon and explain their methods of combat: and. Both individuals use extremely precise chakra control through manipulating the internal flow of chakra within their body and subsequently make this appear across their body as a small shroud, of sorts. However, this is the beginning. By refining this "shroud" of chakra into a much more precise shape, such as a needle-like form used by Neji in his battle with, or even physically exerting it at the center of their palms as Hinata did with her battle against and her companions, it may be seen that the Gentle Fist is, in fact, an extremely versatile method of combat. I'd like to briefly summarize the capabilities of the Gentle Fist in the following description:
 * "Gentle Fist is the externalization of internal chakra flow to the outside of the body as a small membrane of sorts which is then focused and refined after a significant level of training. In doing so, the Gentle Fist, combined with the ability to utilize the Byakugan, allows the users to cause damage to injure an enemy's Chakra Pathway System or even their organs directly through the transfer of this chakra from their own body into the enemy's body."

If it still has confusing phrasing, or if you disagree with me, please feel free to comment below your own interpretations! I believe discussions like these really do help promote the creative environment on the wiki!

Clarification of Techniques for the Gentle Fist
Probably the more important of the sections within this blog due to the userbase's fondness for adding techniques onto their characters. As it can be deciphered, the Gentle Fist is a form of Taijutsu that adds the use of a Kekkei Genkai and Chakra Flow. As such, it is obvious that there are specific maneuvers associated with it, especially since the Hyūga Clan are such an old clan. This is my interpretation of the three types of techniques available to the members of the Hyūga Clan; two if you consider the Branch and Main Family split.
 * Eight Trigrams (八卦掌, Hakkeshō): Before we go into detail about the types of techniques the techniques with the Eight Trigrams prefix are, let's clarify what the Eight Trigrams are. They are derived from the  (八卦, Eight Symbols) in Taoist cosmology which represents the eight fundamentals of reality: Heaven/Sky, Lake/Marsh, Fire, Thunder, Wind, Water, Mountain and Earth. Nevertheless, we won't dwell too much on the meaning behind the name. These techniques are those that are, in most situations, exclusive to the Main Branch of the Hyūga Clan; generally the eldest child of any family member within the Main Branch, as evident by the situation with and . We all know of the signature techniques that the Gentle Fist possesses with this prefix, but I'd like to explain the nature of the techniques with this prefix. I believe they are secret for this reason: they are exclusive to a single purpose given to them. This may be explained through the use of . While it may be applied defensively in a wide variety of situations, the technique itself is used for almost exclusively that purpose: defense. A more famous example would be  and its associated derivatives. This technique is a powerful offensive technique that is meant to completely shut off a section of the Chakra Pathway System through its nodes known as the.

Why are these techniques so exclusive and secret, you might ask? Well, look at it this way. Any normal member of the Hyūga Clan who lacks the genius of Neji would remark that these techniques require an extremely high level of two attributes associated with most Hyūga clansmen: stamina and chakra control. Stamina is vital for these techniques because they are generally continuous strikes and high-speed movement without any interruptions, making it extremely difficult to perform the entire sequence of techniques without considerable training and focus, as evident from how long it took Hinata to successfully perform the Eight Trigrams Sixty Four Palms. Albeit, this can also be tied to her somewhat weak resolve up until that point. Nevertheless, that is my opinion on the techniques with the prefix of Eight Trigrams. They are techniques in which the individuals performing them have a single purpose in mind and to perform them successfully, must require an exceptional level of chakra control, stamina, focus and precision not available to most of the Shinobi world at large.
 * Gentle Fist Art (柔拳法, Jūkenpō): The Gentle Fist Art is a prefix for those techniques which are considered to be a little bit more general in nature. They are available to the entirety of the clan and are not as rigid or difficult to perform as those that possess the Eight Trigrams prefix. The only canonical example of this is the Gentle Fist Art One Blow Body, which focuses around a general skill that the Hyūga Clan train in: the expelling of chakra from all Tenketsu. While it is a specified version demonstrated in its canon use, one can easily modify the use of this technique in order to create a variation only focused around certain isolated limbs or regions of the body. As such, they are the most versatile techniques that the clan possesses. Using my own opinion on what these techniques actually are, I have made a number of them myself. While they may not be as general as the canonical example, I believe these are effective representations of my own interpretation of these technique types to some extent.
 * Gentle Step (柔歩, Jūho): The last and most obscure variation of the Gentle Fist. Due to the only known technique being produced with this prefix being Hinata's, it is something that I struggled with ascertaining as a simple naming preference or an actual category of techniques under the Hyūga Clan name. However, after my own natural process of overthinking everything I see, I came with a rather simple conclusion for what the Gentle Step category of techniques could be. The Gentle Step, in my opinion, is very similar to what a traditional stance would be in Martial Arts. Our resident martial arts expert, Sei, might disagree on what I have to say. Nevertheless, I believe this due to the nature of Hinata's own technique. It is not an offensive technique on its own, nor does it involve any actual striking with the lion-like apparitions as projectiles up until this point. Logically, it can be used to enhance the force of Hinata's blows, as made apparent during the Ten-Tails Arc where she used it in conjunction with her Eight Trigrams Sixty Four Palms to completely destroy a fragment of the Ten-Tailed Beast. As a result, I deduced that the Gentle Step category of techniques are unique "stances" or methods of exerting chakra into a physical form that empower any of the more focused Gentle Fist Arts, or give them a unique edge that would not be expected by most opponents. I imagine this is reserved for scenarios where the standard arts are unable to deal enough damage, or simply unable to make contact due to their predictability - especially useful when fighting against fellow users.

Conclusion
So that's a wrap! Anyways, that's my take on the types of techniques the Gentle Fist has and what the Gentle Fist actually is. Again, there is no need to believe that you have to follow this approach when considering the Hyūga Clan and Gentle Fist as a whole, it's simply an interpretation. If you have questions or different interpretations, please comment below! I'd be happy to gain a wide variety of perspectives on canonical concepts that haven't been explored much in canon, after all.