Chapter 38: The Upcoming Chunin Exam

In the [space inventory]: Kekkei Genkai: Byakugan (Red)

At Yagyu's house...

After seeing off Hinata, who had helped him clean up after dinner, Yagyu summoned his virtual panel and checked the red orb in his space inventory.

Seeing the Kekkei Genkai he had been waiting for years to obtain, Yagyu felt a surge of joy.

Although, after obtaining the Red Eye, the Byakugan no longer offered any immediate improvement for him. But as a transmigrator, Yagyu knew that this was only for the time being.

As the starting point for all eye techniques, the Byakugan not only had many branches but also possessed significant potential for growth, provided the bloodline was pure enough.

The Hyuga clan's Byakugan was considered weak because their bloodline wasn't pure enough.

In contrast, the Otsutsuki clan on the moon had a much more advanced bloodline. Even if they couldn't awaken the Tenseigan, they could still combine multiple Byakugans to form a massive Tenseigan.

With just the transplantation of a pair of highly pure Byakugan, Otsutsuki Toneri could awaken the Tenseigan within a few days.

Hagoromo Otsutsuki's Byakugan mutated for the same reason — because of his pure bloodline.

In Boruto, Uzumaki Boruto was able to awaken one of his Jougan due to the upgrade of his bloodline.

Similarly, as long as Yagyu upgrades his bloodline, the potential of his Byakugan would increase as well.

Once he reached the level of the Six Paths, even if the Byakugan didn't evolve or mutate, it might still have the power to kill enemies with a glance or read people's minds like Kaguya Otsutsuki.

Or perhaps, like Momoshiki Otsutsuki, he could see other people's fates.

In short, while Yagyu might not need to use the Byakugan often, it was something he couldn't afford to be without.

Standing in front of the bathroom mirror, Yagyu proceeded to fuse the Byakugan Kekkei Genkai and observed his reflection.

As the red light merged into his body, Yagyu could distinctly feel his brain secreting chakra, which all gathered in his eyes.

Soon after, Yagyu's pupils underwent visible changes.

Originally, Yagyu's pupils were red, with tiny irises in the center. But now, his pupils turned white, and the irises disappeared entirely.

If not for the fact that his pupils were still surrounded by an iris, Yagyu would have thought his eyes were now entirely white.

At the same time, he could feel that within these white pupils, there was energy similar to that of the Sharingan and Red Eye.

Moreover, he instinctively knew how to activate this hidden energy.

Yagyu formed the "Ram" seal with his hands and softly murmured, "Byakugan—Activate!"

In the next moment, the reflection of Yagyu in the mirror suddenly had bulging veins at his temples.

If it were on an ordinary or unattractive person, this appearance might have seemed terrifyingly grotesque. But on the handsome Yagyu, these veins added a strange, captivating beauty, much like when Sasuke activated his Cursed Seal.

With the Byakugan activated, Yagyu's perspective shifted just like when he activated the Red Eye—his view transformed from a first-person perspective to a bird's-eye view, capturing everything within a kilometer's radius.

However, all the images and objects were in black and white, with only the chakra pathways in people's bodies and the flowing chakra inside them showing up in blue in Yagyu's vision.

It was because of how visible the chakra pathways and chakra flow were that the Byakugan was such a counter to invisibility techniques and genjutsu.

In this black-and-white world, the Byakugan user merely needed to locate that one trace of blue to identify the enemy's location.

After getting a feel for the Byakugan's perspective, Yagyu deactivated it. The bulging veins receded, and Yagyu's white pupils gradually reverted to their original red.

Seeing this, Yagyu was ecstatic.

Unlike the Hyuga and Otsutsuki clans' Byakugan, Yagyu's Byakugan was like that of Himawari Uzumaki from Boruto—it only turned white when activated, and otherwise, it returned to its normal eye color.

This way, Yagyu no longer needed to wear contact lenses all the time.

However, the bulging veins were still too obvious, so until he could reveal all his cards, he would avoid using the Byakugan if possible.

Leaving the bathroom, Yagyu took out the Thunder Swords: Kiba from his space inventory and began his next phase of training.

Yagyu wasn't particularly interested in swordsmanship.

Just like how even if a ninja developed Kekkei Tota, unless their bloodline was connected to the Otsutsuki clan, they could only reach the peak level of a Kage.

Similarly, swordsmanship for a ninja had its limits — at best, it could only elevate one to the level of a Kage.

But that wasn't the main point.

The key was that once Yagyu awakened the Mangekyo Sharingan and could use the full-body Susanoo, he could easily slash mountains and split the earth with sword swings comparable to those of a top swordsman from the One Piece world.

The massive size of the full-body Susanoo didn't require any technique—raw strength would be enough to overwhelm anything.

Starting from scratch with swordsmanship would only be a waste of time for Yagyu.

The reason Yagyu wanted the Thunder Swords: Kiba was that, like Asuma Sarutobi's chakra blades, they allowed the user's chakra to easily undergo Lightning Release transformation.

By using these swords to train his Lightning Release, Yagyu could make twice the progress with half the effort.

However, Yagyu wasn't refining his Lightning Release for offensive purposes; he was doing it to address his weaknesses.

Yagyu's current shortcomings were his defense and speed.

Until his Sage Body granted him the ability to heal without hand seals, he could compensate for these weaknesses using Earth Release for defense and Lightning Release for speed.

In the original series, Kakuzu showcased the defensive capabilities of Earth Release techniques.

Similarly, Sasuke Uchiha managed to match Rock Lee's years of training within just one month by using Lightning Release to stimulate his cells, drastically increasing his speed.

Thanks to his success in developing several new jutsu, Yagyu had also come to understand both the advantages and limitations of Sakura's chakra control.

The advantage was that this talent allowed Yagyu to perfectly control his chakra, enabling him to easily achieve various forms of shape manipulation.

But this talent didn't help him improve his nature transformations.

Because of this, while Yagyu could easily create chakra spirals and control water to form a Spiral Water Dragon, he couldn't just form a Water Dragon in his hands directly.

The same was true for the Hard Whirlpool Water Blade.

Thus, Yagyu had to rely on external tools to assist him.

—

Time flew by, and soon it was the end of June.

During this time, Team 8 regularly gathered to complete missions, though they were all D-rank. Kurenai hadn't taken them on any more C-rank missions.

It wasn't just Kurenai. Even Kakashi, Asuma, and the other jōnin instructors from previous years had stopped taking their teams on missions outside the village.

Because they all knew that late June to early July was a very special time.

Screech!

One day, while Team 8 was helping clean up the village as usual, the sharp cry of an eagle suddenly pierced the sky.

The cry was so loud that it seemed to reverberate through all of Konoha.

Upon hearing the sound, the jōnin in the village stopped whatever they were doing and immediately vanished, leaving afterimages as they dashed toward the Hokage's office.

Kurenai turned to Yagyu and the others, saying, "Finish the task, then you're dismissed for the day. We'll meet at the usual place tomorrow."

With that, she disappeared in a flash.

As Yagyu looked at the eagle circling above the village, he had a thoughtful expression.

At this time of year, if there were no surprises, it was likely the Chunin Exams were approaching.

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