10.

Hinata POV

"Today," said my father, "you will begin learning Eight Trigrams Sixty-Four Palms.

"In this technique, with the Byakugan's near 360 degree field of vision, the user envisions an Eight Trigrams sealing circle. Then the enemy within this circle is hit with a series of violent blows. By striking sixty-four of the tenketsu throughout the opponent's Chakra Pathway System, their chakra flow is stopped, making them unable to even stand.

"Once someone is within range of the user's field of divination - or range of reach - the user assumes a Gentle Fist stance and begins to deliver the attack: First, two consecutive strikes to make two. Second, another two consecutive strikes to make four. Third, four consecutive strikes to make eight. Fourth, eight consecutive strikes to make sixteen. Fifth, sixteen consecutive strikes to make thirty-two. Sixth, another thirty-two consecutive strikes in succession to make a total of sixty-four strikes. The sixth consecutive attack needs a strong step forward, because without it the technique will fail.

"Each set of strikes is done at an exponentially increasing pace and strength. The attack not only disables the enemy but also knocks them back with every set of strikes.

"This technique is only passed down from the Hyuuga main head to one of their children," my father added, looking down at me reservedly. "It is one of those techniques no branch member could know."

My eyes widened, and then I bowed low. "I am honored, Father," I said, surprised - in spite of myself.

It took me a long time to get down Sixty-Four Palms. My father had to be quite harsh with me. It was hard to coordinate all that at once, the exponentially faster precise strikes, the steps forward.

When I finally hit one of my father's clones and it crippled over, disappearing in a puff of smoke, however, I paused, breathing hard, beaming in delight.

"Now," said my father, "you will practice it until you can do it everytime without fail."

Soon it became secondhand to me. "You are within my range of divination," I would say quietly in a deadly voice, looking up through my dark hair, and then my hands would flash out in a blur.

Ino POV

"Today you will learn the Mind Body Reading Technique," said my father. "In it, as long as you can look the person in the eye, you can read their mind without entering their body. You use your eyes as a jumping off point into theirs, rather like with Mind Body Switch Technique.

"This has applications not only for gaining information from the enemy, but for reading what they are about to do in a fight.

"So. Look into my eyes and loosen focus, as in Mind Body Switch, but at the same time keep your hara tight and centered, keeping yourself grounded."

It took a while to get down the two things together. At first, I would either enter his body, or I would keep myself too grounded and not move at all. I tried tricking him and guessing what he was thinking based on what I knew about him and his body movements - no go.

"Ino," he would say sternly, "be serious."

"Fine," I pouted.

At last, I got it. My focus narrowed, and I began hearing his thoughts running in an arc. "You're remembering the first time you met Mom," I realized, my eyes widening. "How she told you the meaning behind the flower in the Yamanaka Clan symbol."

He smiled sadly. "Go make up with your mother," he said. "She's stubborn, but she was just concerned and trying to help you. I think she feels a bit misplaced by Anko."

Hesitantly, I walked up to my Mom later in the flower shop. "I'll take over," I said, going to stand at the front desk. She left coldly and silently, as she had often lately. "Hey, Mom," I said, and when she turned to look at me, I realized I didn't know quite what to say. "... I'm sorry," I managed at last. "I am trying to be a good kunoichi, you know."

"... I have accepted, Ino, that your path in life may be different from mine," she said at last. "No apology is necessary."

But she was much warmer to me after that.

Sakura POV

"Gotta go train, Dad!" I said, grabbing an apple and giving him a kiss on the cheek on the way by as I ran out the orchard to be with Mom. I'd been working out all morning; I felt a pleasant kind of high and I was shining with sweat.

"Have fun, sweetie," he told me.

"Hey, Dad." I turned around curiously.

"Yeah?" He looked up in surprise.

"Why aren't you teaching me anything about genjutsu?"

He smiled cheerfully. "Your grandmother would never forgive me if I let you learn illusions from a man," he said.

I smiled back and ran out to be with Mom, scarfing down the apple on my way. (I could have just stolen one from one of the fruit trees, but Mom always scolded me when I did that.) "So what now?" I said, my mouth full of food.

"Today," said my mother, "you will learn to bind someone using genjutsu. This has two steps: first, you learn how to control the person's limbs from the center of their cerebral nervous system. Second, you give them the illusory tactile feeling that they have been bound together."

"Is this anything like Ino's body control technique?" I asked, frowning thoughtfully.

"Not exactly. It's tougher to control someone's fingers enough to make them grab a kunai knife and stab themselves, for example. Though if the enemy's near a cliff, you could make them walk right off of it. Or you could make them bash their head against a rock. Limbs and head are about all a genjutsu user can manage as far as control goes."

So I learned how to control the limbs and head of various clones, having them do different things, giving them the tactile sensation of being within invisible binds.

"Try to go for the surprise factor," my mother suggested. "Make them think they're in a ninjutsu that involves paralysis or invisible binds."

All POV

Meanwhile, each girl was finding further hobbies.

Sakura started writing poetry - mostly longer-form poetry, starting a new one every few days. She wrote about a whole wide variety of things going on in her life, and moved from personal venting to telling stories about other characters she made up in her head.

Ino took to dancing. She went to dance studios and took partner-dancing lessons, her favorite becoming swing.

Hinata began baking. She had a major sweet tooth, and so one of her favorite relaxing things to do was cook big batches of breads, cookies, cakes, and pies for herself and her family and friends. Some whispered that cooking and baking in the kitchen were beneath the Hyuuga clan heiress, but people had been whispering for years that pottering around in the garden like her mother did was unbefitting of a clan head's wife.

It hadn't bothered Hinata's mother and it certainly wasn't going to bother Hinata.